A Dare Gone Zany 2: Kooks and Korporates
by Comet-Striker
Summary: 3 years after the original "Dare Gone Zany", Bradley has made himself at home in Toontown, now a budding teenager with the Warner Siblings. But something new wants to disturb the peace between the humans and toons when the toons start vanishing. With the help of friends new and old, he needs to get to the bottom of this and fast before Toontown turns into a ghost town, or worse!
1. Diving Back In The Row

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

 _Welp, sequel time! Had this idea brewing for a while and thought now would be a good time to show it, especially with rumors that "Animaniacs" could really be returning in a hopefully good reboot!_

 _This story takes place about 3 years after "A Dare Gone Zany"._

* * *

 _Newsreel of the Stars! Dateline Hollywood: After the successful rehabilitation of the now ex-evil feline, Toontown has seen its happiest days yet! Humans and toons have gradually been learning to co-exist and the human world now have their fair share of cartoon characters roaming the streets once again! Even the Warners themselves are now free to join the others in their merriment with their new friend and caretaker, Bradley! What was thought to be a choice of caution and regret in letting their first human in decades in their life has turned to a new age!_

 _But like all good paradises, there's always trouble brewing somewhere inside, and sometimes they need to be taught a lesson in order for their version of order to be restored. No world is perfect, but this time something much more sinister is afoot, something more cunning. We can only hope that it'll get solved by the rest, or else it'll spell the toons' doom as we know it._

 _10 PM, in the human world_

Burbank seemed rather quiet with only a few other people walking around to their night jobs. A mix of toons and humans were walking around the place either going to a job or home while all the young ones were asleep. One of the toons, a small, blue-furred dog was also walking around along with a few other toons before they split up and started heading back to Toontown with their black hole portals.

The toon in question was about to leave as well before hearing a weird noise, a clattering sound in a nearby alley. He decides to walk into it to check it out. He thought it was one of his friends that hasn't left yet and saw something themselves, so he decided to look around the place to see if he can find and bring them home too.

After a minute of searching and more clattering, he continued following the source of the noises to find a dead end. He then hears footsteps as he turned around to suddenly see tall people blocking his way, with one of them spraying the toon with sleeping dust before he could throw down his portal to escape. He fell into a deep slumber and onto the ground with a bonk, only hearing two words before he fell unconscious:

"Bag him."

 _Sunday, 4 PM, Toontown_

Meanwhile, back in the world of the toons, there was a group of five crooks running away with big bags of valuables in their hands, coins jingling inside as they ran off. It seemed that several of the Beagle Boys had just left with what looked like one of Scrooge's big withdrawals now that it was outside of his Money Bin, all in various disguises other than their robber masks. A good chunk of Toontown cops were running after them along winding roads and sidewalks, the Boys about to reach their planes, wishing out loud that they should've parked closer.

Before then though, a spill of marbles appeared right in front of them, the cops stopping but the Boys tripping up and falling on their faces, letting out "WHOA"s and slipping and bonking sound effects as they lay splayed out. As they were groaning and getting back up, and one of them slipped and fell again, someone stepped out of the corner of one of the buildings where the marbles came from.

"Heh, slipping up again are we?" Said the voice of a familiar boy. When they saw who it was, it turned out to be Bradley, the first human to find Toontown again. He was also no longer a 10-year old, but now a teenager.

One of the Boys got up on his feet while yet another tripped and fell again. "It's that boy again!" One of them exclaimed.

"We can take 'em, it's just him!" Another one said once they got up to their feet.

Bradley just smirked at that. "Yeah?" He said as he snapped his fingers. Soon three different creatures appeared from behind his back like a posse. They appeared in suits and hats hiding their faces, snapping at a steady beat. Bradley snapped again and they removed their disguises. It was the always charming Warner Brothers and Sister: Yakko, Wakko and Dot! And those bright smiles right at them caused the Beagle Boys to get very scared already.

"Helloooooo Beagle Boys!" Yakko said in earnest, but even that got the crooks scared. "We've been lookin' all over for ya!"

"Say, you're still up for band practice on Thursday? I brought my own trumpet!" Wakko said as he brought one out. "I even tuned it to the key of 'E'!" He said as he blew in it, making a very loud sound and shooting out a big yellow "E" right on them.

"Oh, but you're not gonna look like that when you practice! I got an idea!" Dot said with a smile with some scissors in one hand and ribbon in another, running around one of the Beagle Boys to give him a blonde wig and a blue dress, making him yelp once he saw what happened. "Ahh, just like Kate Winslet." Dot said, proud of her work.

Bradley held his smile and crossed his arms. "Still wanna try to 'take me'?" He said with an almost Yakko-like smugness himself.

The Beagle Boys dropped everything and ran right to the Toontown cops, scared senseless. "Please take us with you, anything else is better than them!" They pleaded, the Warners smiling and waving "innocently".

"Alright, lock 'em up!" One of the cops said as Scrooge rushed in to collect his taken money bags, the Beagle Boys getting in the Toontown paddy wagon.

"Thanks kid, they almost got away that time." Another toon cop said with a smile of appreciation.

"Aww it's nothing, just doing what four youths do what they're best at." Bradley said with a bright smile back.

"Getting in the way of adults doing what they're supposed to do!" Yakko said proudly.

"That and make sure no candy goes uneaten!" Wakko added, rubbing his belly. Dot brought out a gumball from behind her and popped it into the air, with Wakko jumping up and catching it in his mouth and eating it up, like a treat to a dog.

Yakko smiles and pats Wakko's head after that. The Toontown police were still apprehensive about the Warners, but appreciated the help nonetheless, taking the Beagle Boys away. "It's the simple things, ain't it?" Bradley asked as they started walking back towards the Warner Movie Lot for dinner.

"Well sometimes things don't need big plans to make them funny." Yakko explained with a shrug and smile. "Just ask every early Scooby-Doo episode ever."

"I think Scooby's sleeping though, want me to call him to make sure?" Dot asked eagerly.

Bradley laughed and shook his head. "No, that's fine, thanks." He said with a smile before the Warners decided to plop down their portal holes and jump in to teleport to the Warner lot. Bradley ended up jumping into one of them to follow them there.

As the view pans out to see more of Toontown, it was bustling with activity and happiness all around. Toons of all kinds were walking down the street and sidewalks, along with new tour buses filled with real-life humans seeing the interestingly zany sights it had to offer them. The buildings were lively, and the town itself was busy pretty much everywhere.

Ever since Bradley managed to convince the villainous cat that rearranging and revenge on this town wasn't the right way to accomplish anything, and helped give him a second chance at being a toon, it helped spawn a beginning of a new age for the toons. It helped them realize that they shouldn't have to close themselves off to the humans anymore. As a result, more previously closed off portals had opened up elsewhere in the world, not just the one near Bradley's hometown of Burbank.

Three years later, it seemed to continue to flourish. Bradley, now 13, had just celebrated his third year being the Warners' caretaker as well as his birthday into the beginning of teendom, yet the humor hasn't seemed to have left him at all. If anything, he took great pride in being with the Warners rather than embarrassment. He didn't have to wrangle them up so often anymore, but even then they still managed to make lots of toon-related chaos all over town. Whether or not the other toons got annoyed or fearful about it, Bradley knew they just wanted to be happy, free and to have fun. Even if he still ended up being in their humor's line of fire every so often.

They soon arrived in the Warners' water tower, all three of them as well as Bradley coming out of the portals from the floor that formed. "Whew, another crime gang annoyed into submission, nice work." Bradley said to the Warners' proud poses, removing the hoodie he had on, showing that he had a blue collared shirt with a toon dog's head pattern stitched into it on under it, to go with his new long-legged jeans and velcro running shoes. They also fit just right as some were gifts from some of the toon friends he made for his 11th birthday that actually grow with him as he grows. The ingenuity of toons was always fascinating to him with things like that, feeling the toon-made threads woven in with the real-world made cotton. That and the added convenience of a hammerspace in his pockets was a nice boon too, even it had the randomness of Wakko's gaggy bag sometimes.

"So far we haven't really destroyed anything to get everyone mad at you, been a good day so far." Bradley said with a smile as he hung his hoodie up on a hook next to the tower door.

"Yeah, I think we're losing our touch." Yakko said worriedly.

Wakko pokes Bradley's arm a few times, humming to himself. "Nope, still got mine!"

Dot was at her vanity mirror putting on a few touch-ups. "I dunno about you, but I could definitely go for some..." She then put on a Spanish accent for this: "Hamburguesa con queso y papas fritas." She said trying to sound fancy and dramatic like a Spanish rom-com, with an accompanying guitar strumming. The two brothers and human tilt their heads at that, looking confused.

"Cheeseburger with fries!" Dot said after another second. The others all went "Ohhhh" and nod in agreement with each other.

"We're not ordering a thousand like last time though." Bradley warned. "Maybe we can try delivery this time?"

Yakko gasped in fake shock. "Deliver junk food to our doorstep? Surely you jest at such a possibility!"

Wakko however was very excited at the idea. "We've done delivery, but not with burgers! Can we do candy after?" Wakko said happily as he jumped up and down.

Bradley shrugged at that. "Ehh, you know, anything can be done." He assured them as he lets them place their order over their Bugs Bunny phone. While they did that, Bradley walked over to his part of the tower, which had been his new room for 3 years now.

He looked at the wall above his bed which had lots of stuff taped on it, such as newspaper clippings of various headlines that he helped make. The biggest one was from three years ago, headlined "Evil Feline Rehabilitated: Toontown Saved by First Human in Decades!", even including a group picture of him, his mom and the Warners which was taken the day after that whole scenario happened. Other clippings included various headlines involving the Warners' antics like repainting the theater, changing the Simpsons' colors from yellow to green, Wakko eating a whole hot dog cart and so on, as well as some pictures mixed in around them that he took.

Some of them had some of the toons he met, like the more famous ones such as Goofy, Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny and so on. A couple even had autographs, like the Bugs Bunny one that said "Thanks for saving our way of life, it'd be harder getting carrots otherwise." But most of them were with the Warners, especially his first group picture of them back in his first week there thanks to Rick and Stan's dare, who were now no longer bullies to him, but his new friends.

Bradley sighed a little and smiled at the pictures before looking at some of the gifts he got, not just the toon/real world clothes he had on. Some of them included a whistle to call on any toon that could hear it, kind of like a dog whistle; a handheld automatic pie slingshot, plenty of joy buzzers which was the ACME company's previous best seller, plus a new cell phone from Mom. Lots of gags all around, simple yet with their own un-duplicable charm.

Bradley sort of got lost in the nostalgia before being tapped on the shoulder by Yakko. "Hey, you gonna tip?" He said, pointing to the delivery toon at the door, with Wakko and Dot waving at him.

"Oh, yeah!" Bradley said as he got his wallet out from a dresser drawer, another Mom gift, and dug out some toony cash that talked and cheered at being spent, giving it to the delivery toon before wheeling in the burgers by the crates. Upon seeing that, Bradley just glared at Wakko. "I thought I said not to order a thousand burgers." He said with crossed arms.

"It's not!" Wakko defended. "It's nine-hundred and ninety-nine!" He added with a bright smile.

Yakko chuckles and sits on one of the crates of food. "Told ya, you really can teach an old Warner new tricks." He said with a smirk.

"Heeeeeey, I resemble that remark!" Dot said shaking her hand in the air, now dressed as an old woman with a wig, walker, and dress one size too big.

Bradley just relaxed and snickered. "Yeah, that's definitely true..." He said as he stretched his arms after the delivery toon left with his money as the four of them were ready to eat.

 _9 PM_

After Wakko basically ate half the burgers and Bradley had one(despite the slight inky taste to it), the others saved the rest of the food and it was time for bed. Bradley tucked himself in and everyone said their good-nights, but did feel kind of uneasy. Something didn't sit right with him, and it wasn't the inky burger that he had. He got up at around 10 PM and snuck out of the tower, looking out past the railing and at the night sky.

He always liked looking out at the stars, some dancing and some making constellations that drove around, plus the face on the moon not nearly as frightening as the one in "Majora's Mask" was nice too. Nothing much about that seemed to change, and he was just fine with it.

Soon after, Bradley heard footsteps so he looked down to see someone approaching the tower, the teen wondering who it could be. They didn't seem to look like a toon in what little light there was right now, but most of the humans should've gone back to the human world by then. He saw they had a suit on and started climbing up the ladder to the tower. Something wasn't right about this, so he called out to them. "Hey!" He shouted, making the person fall off the ladder with an "oof!", starting to scurry out of there.

Bradley slid down the ladder to chase after them. They weren't using any sort of super-speed, so it was definitely a human, but that didn't mean they still weren't fast. Luckily Bradley kept up his fitness, so he managed to catch up and tackle the person, making them drop something, but the momentum sent Bradley rolling onto the ground too. The suspect fled without a second thought, but Bradley got up and let him go, panting a little as he picked up what was dropped.

It was a can of "ACME Sleep Spray" once the boy saw it in some better lighting nearby. "What the..." He mumbled to himself before hearing a voice that made him jump a bit in surprise.

"Bradley! There you are." The person said. It was the familiar voice of Mr. Plotz, Chairman of the Warner Bros. lot in Toontown. "I was actually looking for you, we have something that concerns you that we'd like to talk about." He said before noticing the can in Bradley's hand. "Where did you get that?" He said as he walked closer to check.

"Oh, hey Plotz..." Bradley said tiredly. "I got this from someone trying to climb the tower, they already left..." He said with a frown, handing it to the CEO.

"Hmph... Then we've no time to spare, I'm glad I caught you when I did. To my office, now!" Plotz shouted, heading over towards his administration office. Bradley followed with a shrug, some things do never change.

 _In Plotz's office_

Bradley sat down at a chair in front of the CEO's desk. The tiny toon, which Bradley now stood above, hopped into his seat as well. "We've got a situation in your real world." Plotz said with slight worry. "Some of our toons aren't reporting back to Toontown and back into the lot."

"Toons disappearing? I thought they were allowed to stay in the real world now." Bradley asked curiously.

"Only when they're part of a big job or making cartoons there. We're having visiting toons disappear and not checking back in." Plotz explained.

Bradley thought about it and hummed to himself, thinking back to the person that fled from him not long ago. "Huh, that does sound serious. But why does this concern me again?" He asked curiously.

"Because the relations between humans and toons started with you, that's why." Plotz said with a grumble. "We've been working surprisingly well for three years now, and we shouldn't have to pin this on the humans. We're sending you to where he was seen last, and you're not to say anything to the Warners about this." He added.

"What about the Toontown cops?" Bradley suggested.

"They're trying to find out what they can on this side, believe me they're trying." Plotz assured him. "It's up to you to find out what's going on in the human world."

Bradley sighs softly and nods in understanding. "Got it..." He said as the teen got up, about to leave.

"Oh, no need to walk there." Plotz said. "As the authority of the Warner Bros. side of Toontown, I think you're ready for one of our tools." He said as he pulled out a drawer, showing that he had a toon hole in there, unused. He puts on a glove and picks it up, handing it to Bradley. "By being the first one to touch it, that hole's entitled and imprinted to you."

Bradley already was excited, eyes widened. "You mean I finally have one for myself? YES!" He shouted happily, with Plotz having to shush him. The teen chuckled shyly and rubbed the back of his head. "Heh... Sorry." He said sheepishly.

"Yes, you do. Those are how toons can return to Toontown from anywhere after all, and then some. You know how they work, right?" Plotz explained, with the human nodding. He told Bradley the location of where the location of the captured toon was, and to come back if there's anything of note to tell him. After that, he was ushered out of the office and the door shut behind him.

 _10 PM_

Once he was all dressed back at the water tower, slipping his jeans and shirt and hoodie back on, he headed back out after convincing the sleepy Warners he was just gonna get some air to help him get sleepy. He slid down the ladder and sighs as he got out the toon hole he now had for himself.

"Need help?" Said a familiar voice from one of the water tower support beams. Bradley turned around after jumping in surprise for the second time tonight. The figure gave a smirk and came out of the shadows, it was the suited feline from before, the same nameless one he helped rehabilitate years ago during Bradley's first adventure. "Hmm, good to know I can still give someone a good jolt." He said with a chuckle, in what seemed like a newer suit and hat as well as a different cane, but otherwise looked exactly the same.

"Oh, hey!" Bradley said with a bright smile. "What're you doing here?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, I heard of your little job the chairman asked you to do and... Figured you'd like a little help." The cat offered.

Bradley looked back up at the tower where the sleeping Warners were, then back at the cat. "Alright, you can come with me, just make sure no one knows, okay?"

"Don't worry, I haven't lost my skills of sneaking and slinking around." The nameless cat said. "You should really visit me more often too." He added, pulling out his own toon hole from his suit pocket.

"I'll make a reservation later." Bradley responded with a chuckle, slapping down his own onto the floor.

"Oh, you have your own teleporter now? Must be another early birthday, eh?" The cat said with a smirk.

"I wish, I'd ask for so much." The human responded back with a smile at the toon cat. He tells the toon the location that Plotz told him so he can get there, then jumps into the hole, disappearing soon after. The cat soon followed suit, both on their way back to Bradley's home town.

* * *

 _Author's note: And so the newest installment begins. Was thinking about this idea for a while now on top of the "Escape from Universal" story. I just hope I still know how to write these toons._


	2. The Investigative Group Reunion

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _10:30 PM, in the human world, Burbank_

Bradley and the suited cat soon popped up near where the toon was kidnapped, next to the alley. Thankfully he's gotten used to how sudden that was and didn't feel that dizzy. That cat looked somewhat impressed at that level of tolerance. "Hm, interesting. Most humans usually have to sit down after travelling like that."

Bradley chuckles a little at that as he picked up the toon hole from the ground and pocketed it. "You really think that, huh?"

"Not really, just thought that would make you feel better." The cat said with a twirl of his cane.

Bradley just rolled his eyes as he brushed himself off. "Well, let's see what happened here then." He said as he and the feline entered the alley. From the looks of it, nothing much has changed from yesterday. There didn't seem to be much of a struggle, and not much debris was flung about. It looked like no one else had entered it since the event, which was a good thing for them so nothing much got moved about.

The 13-year-old human tried to find some clues, but it was too dark. "Did you bring a flashlight with you?" Bradley asked the cat, to which he tossed one to him. He thanked the feline and turned the light on. Next time he went on an investigation, he'd bring his own and put it in his hammer-space pockets.

"Hmm, feels like _CSI_ or something." Bradley commented. "I guess since Toontown cops are only looking into toon stuff, that means no human cops are gonna look into this?"

"You'd be right. They agreed to keep to their side of the law, for one not to interfere with the other." The cat answered.

"Huh, so that's what Plotz meant it was up to me..." Bradley said to himself.

"You wouldn't have to if Eddie Valiant was still here." The cat said, with a slightly sad tone. Bradley frowned a bit and nodded in agreement.

They continued roaming for another minute or so before coming across some form of dust on the ground. "Hey, look at this!" Bradley called out to the cat, kneeling down to get a closer look. "Looks like dust..."

The cat dabbed some of the dust to gather some on his finger, thinking a bit about how it looked and the texture. "ACME sleeping dust, definitely." The feline said. "But it's too cleanly shaped. There are some spots around on the ground where it just stops." He said as he pointed to some of the dust that ended up having straight lines or curves in them, rather than a mess.

"So someone got sprayed with this stuff and fell asleep in it..." Bradley said, clearing his throat and coughing a little.

"Are you fine?" The cat said in response.

"Yeah, just still going through puberty, like breaking voices." Bradley said with a smile. "Something that I can break without the Warners' help." He added.

"Hmph." The cat chuckled with a light smirk back. "The beginning of the next stage of life."

"I'm just glad I don't sound like Screech." Bradley responded with a laugh, getting back up. "There's gotta be more around here." He added as he and the cat split up to search for more. Who ended up spraying the toon with that dust?

After another couple of minutes, the cat found something this time, calling Bradley over. It seemed like he found several footprints and some slide lines the dust made.

"They must've used a LOT of dust for that to happen." Bradley said. The teen knelt down to look at the footprint. "It's a shoe, not a paw... And it looks like a normal shoe pattern too, so that must belong to a human. And the slide lines..." He mumbled to himself a bit more. "Put in a bag maybe?"

"Possibly." The cat responded. "It seems like our toon-napper went a little crazy with the dust to insure our friend wouldn't wake up for a while."

That got Bradley nervous. "A trap?" He guessed.

The cat shrugged. "That would be a possibility. Lured by noise from the alley, they would've came through here. And with the amount of dust still here, seems no one bothered to come through nor any wind blow enough away to hide it. Humans learned by now not to mess with toon affairs, but this one seemed to not keep that lesson in mind."

"Jeez..." Bradley said to himself. "Any trail?" He wondered.

The cat shook his head. "The trail ends at the exit of the alley, there's likely not enough dust to make a long one to follow."

"What about any pawprints from the toon? Anything?" Bradley asked.

The cat hummed and looked around, ending up finding a few at the entrance of the alley. "There! Those prints, they're a dog's prints." He said as he pointed them out. "And not your real world dogs either, too big."

Bradley thought a little longer and tried piecing it together, leaning on a wall. "So... A toon dog came down the alley cause they thought they heard a noise here. Then a human came in to try and trap them, with friends. They sprayed the sleeping dust to knock them out and throw them in a bag. Then they dragged them away somewhere that we can't follow right now?" He recapped.

The cat smirked and nodded. "That'd be mostly correct. We still don't know where they or our friend went off to, so it looks like we've done all we can do. Let's send the clues to your CEO and get back to Toontown before you end up sleeping through school."

Bradley groans a little at hearing that. "Right, Monday tomorrow." He gets his phone out of his hammer-space pants to take pictures of the clues he and the cat found. "Alright, got 'em. Let's head back." The teen said as he got out his toon hole along with the cat, thinking of their destination before jumping in.

 _11 PM, Toontown, at the Warner Movie Lot_

Both human and toon popped back up in front of the Water Tower before anyone could spot them. "This isn't sounding too good anymore. Toons getting taken away? Humans having access to ACME stuff?"

"Well keep in mind that humans have had access to ACME items for a while." The cat said. "But to use them to take away toons, this spells future trouble."

"Weird way to say 'trouble' then." Bradley said with a soft snicker, but got serious again before the cat could scold him on it. "But yeah, I agree, if they were able to do this now, they could do it again somewhere else."

"Unless we find more clues to who or what is doing this however, we can do nothing about it." The cat reminded him, making him sigh a bit and cross his arms.

"Right..." Bradley said to himself. "We gotta find out more about this, but it's too late in the night now." He said with a yawn. "Gotta bring these to Plotz then get some sleep..."

"Agreed, I'm due for a catnap as well." The suited feline said. "Like I said, you should come and visit more often, being around zaniness still takes a slight toll on me."

Bradley smiles a bit and nods. "Got it, don't worry." He said, giving the cat a handshake. He's still glad he managed to make friends with this nameless cat after saving his life. It was good to have him on the same side instead of having to fight and outrun him in a warehouse full of dip. "See you later then?"

The cat nods as he started walking away. "Yes indeed." He said with a smile and calm tone before leaving, soon out of view.

Bradley headed back to the water tower, transferring the pictures he took to Plotz, assuming he had some kind of machine there to turn digital stuff to real pictures, as he was too tired to head back himself and get into another talk with him. After sneaking back in and changing into his pajamas again, he fell into a deep sleep on his bed, snoring lightly.

 _Monday, 7 AM_

The sun rose above the horizon as a new day emerged for Toontown and the human world, with Bradley groaning a bit as he opened his eyes and rubbed them. Not two seconds later, he felt three pairs of feet dancing on his back accompanied by can-can music. Yakko, Wakko and Dot apparently were waiting on him to start waking up so they can finish "helping".

"Iiiiiiit's time to wake up, it is time to wake up, it is time to wake up now, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la!" The three Warners sang happily before Bradley got up with a groan and ended up making them fall off onto the floor.

"So much for our _So You Think You Can Dance_ audition." Dot said as she brushed herself off.

"Mornin' sleepy!" Yakko said as Bradley sat up.

"Heh, morning... So how long were you awake?" Bradley asked as he sat up.

"I'd say about 70-something years in our almost 90-year lives." Yakko said with a proud smile. "And still going strong!"

Bradley snickered as he looked for his clothes. "I meant since this morning."

"Oh, about one minute." Wakko responded. Whether that was a joke or not, he admired how fast they were able to work.

After breakfast and getting dressed, Bradley's mom came around outside to pick them up. After three years, nothing much changed about her other than getting a newer van, roomy and comfy which was more than enough for the four of them.

"You all ready kids?" Mom said with a bright smile.

The Warners were always eager to see her, at least Yakko and Wakko were. "Helloooooooo Momma Nurse!" The brothers said happily after leaping in the air.

Dot groaned at that. "Boys, nothing changes."

"Yup, ready!" Bradley said as he got in the front seat and put his backpack and lunchbox down on the floor while the Warners got in the back seats. Mom started the van and began their drive to Bradley's new middle school in the human world.

"So, anything on your mind? You look like you haven't slept much." Mom asked worriedly.

"Yeah, you look like Tom Cruise if he had no makeup." Dot remarked.

Bradley shook his head a little. "I'm fine, it's okay." He assured them with a light smile, looking out the window as the Warners played their games in the back seat all to themselves. Bradley couldn't tell them about what happened, not yet anyway. It wouldn't sound right and it'd make them all nervous for no reason. Well maybe not the Warners so much, but of course his mom would be worried sick. So he decided to keep it to himself, not talking much other than to take guesses at some of the Warners' games they were playing.

 _8 AM, at school_

As soon as Bradley was dropped off, the Warners hopped out right behind him, with Mom waving at them before leaving.

Bradley's middle school was definitely different than his elementary school by a country mile. It was bigger with an additional floor on it, had harder subjects, and the teachers, while somewhat more friendly, still had their angry moments to which the Warners still loved to bring out to make the students laugh. Yakko described it as "Elementary for the TeenNick crowd instead of Nick Jr." on their first ever day there. And yes, the Warners did want to transfer schools with Bradley, which they did approve, not knowing what they were going to do there however. Keeping their antics a mystery to newcomers was a secret joy to the siblings once they got to do them in front of a crowd, and they were a big hit with the middle school audience too. Except the 8th graders however, but they just turned out to be targets instead when they ended up bullying the younger 6th and 7th graders.

But even the 8th graders have some friendly faces. Two of them were ones Bradley recognized right away by their lockers. "Hey Stan, Rick!" He said with a happy tone. The two older human teens looked towards Bradley and waved, giving him each a high-five.

"Yo, Brad!" Rick said with a happy tone too. He definitely got taller than before, now taller than Stan, but still not as fit. That would go to Stan, to which puberty was kind to him in terms of the physique.

"Hey, how's it going, you sleep well?" Stan asked. He got over his annoyance of toons gradually, and now he has virtually no problems being in the same room as them.

Bradley shook his head a little, then the Warners hopped onto the two of them for their own greeting.

"Hey, how's the art of patience treating ya?" Yakko said to Stan as he hopped on his shoulders.

Wakko and Dot climbed on Rick's shoulders as well, but like mountain climbers instead due to his tall stature now. Dot then put a flag with the Animaniacs logo on it and put it on top of his head. "I claim this mountain in the name of us!" Dot said proudly, the flag blowing in the wind that wasn't there, there were even little puffs of clouds that appeared and floated around Rick's head.

Bradley snickered at that, rolling his eyes while other nearby students laughed somewhat too. "Alright alright, that's enough." Bradley said as he picked the Warners up and off of them. He left the flag up there though, to which Rick pulled it off of himself.

"Heh, eat it Nat Geo." Yakko said with a smirk to the readers.

"Eat what?" Wakko said eagerly, hungry despite having breakfast not long ago.

"Well, to answer, no I didn't..." Bradley said with a light frown as the bell rung before the Warners launched into another skit. "I'll tell you at lunch, I don't want the Warners to hear this."

"Hear what?" The three of them said at the same time, leaning in extra close with eager expressions as they walked to class.

"Something that involves dairy, fasting and Mel Gibson not being as good-looking as he used to be." Bradley joked to the Warners' disgust, gasping in shock.

"Well I never!" Yakko said with fake horror. "Why didn't ya say so?" He added as the Warners hopped off of him.

"Literally the only way to defuse them." Bradley whispered to Rick and Stan, to their amusement.

 _12:15 PM, the cafeteria_

After a class involving Yakko doing stand-up in their geography class to the teacher's annoyance and Bradley trying to fight falling asleep in that classroom, it was time for lunch and he had to restrain Wakko again to not eat the entirety of the food provided. Once that was successful, he went to sit with Rick and Stan alone while everyone else ate and the Warners amused the younger 6th-graders upon Bradley's request.

"So what's the deal with this odd thing that's got you all tired?" Stan asked.

"Yeah, you having nightmares or something?" Rick guessed.

Bradley shook his head. "No, not that." He said in a quieter tone, looking back at seeing the Warners doing a magic trick with the 6th graders involving Wakko's detached head working like a top over their table. He then looked back at Rick and Stan.

"There's been some stuff going on, like toons being kidnapped, I got sent to look around cause it happened here in Burbank..." Bradley explained. "Stayed up till 11 or so, not used to that on a school day."

"Toonnappings, really?" Rick asked curiously. "Who'd wanna take a toon anyway? And why from here?"

"I dunno, they just got bagged by someone and got dragged off somewhere. I don't know if there was more before this, I didn't get told about it, but..." Bradley stopped a moment and looked away a bit, lightly sighing before looking at them again. "I'll kinda need your help later if it's possible." He asked while Rick and Stan looked distracted at seeing a building tower of food trays where the Warners were. Bradley had to snap his fingers to get them to focus back on him.

"'Kinda'?" Stan said with a huff once he wasn't distracted. "So will ya need us or not?" He added with an annoyed voice. Good to know that hasn't gone away.

Rick elbowed him a little, frowning and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Easy on him, man." He then faced Bradley again. "We'll try to, but I'm not sure what we can do about it to help."

"Oh come on, you're smart and he's strong, it's a good duo!" Bradley said with a reassuring tone. "I know there'll definitely be some things about this that you can help with when the time comes."

Rick and Stan looked at each other and sighs a little after thinking it over. "Alright, alright, we got it." Stan said with a little chuckle.

Near the end of lunch, the Warners bounced back to Bradley. "So what were ya wanting to talk about again?" Yakko asked with a smile.

"Come on, spill the gossip!" Dot asked eagerly.

"Oh good, the beans are safe then." Wakko said with a sigh of relief, eating them all up, can and all.

Bradley chuckles a little bit at the sudden invasion. "Did those 6th graders enjoy your show?" He asked the Warners with a light smile as they backed up.

"You bet!" Yakko said proudly. "We did our 'Leaning Tower of Pizza' trick and they loved it!"

"And it got me a free snack too!" Wakko said as he rubbed his belly.

"And there was no Garfield trying to get the lasagna on the top." Dot added.

Bradley shook his head and smiled, patting their heads. "Well good on ya for that." He praised with a content tone, looking back to Stan and Rick and nodding a bit at them in hope that they understood what he said. They nodded back, relieving Bradley of that little bit of stress.

 _3 PM_

After going back to class and making the teacher annoyed once more at the Warners trying to show up the class with a song number, Bradley said bye to his friends and headed into Mom's van and went back through the Toontown portal back to the Warner Movie lot.

"Alright, head on out!" Mom said as the Warners took it literally and bowled their heads out of the van, rolling into three sets of pins that all got knocked down. The heads landed back on the pins and reformed into their respective bodies, waving back before zipping away to a nearby soundstage for more chaos.

Bradley of course, headed out the normal way. "Thanks Mom." He said as he shuts the door.

"Oh, hun?" Mom called out to him.

"Yeah?" Bradley responded, turning back to face her.

"Like I said, if there's anything you need to tell me, you can, okay?" Mom reminded with a little smile, but had her natural worry for him like always, especially from this morning.

Bradley nods softly in response. "Yeah, I got it." He responded with a little chuckle.

"Good. I'm saying that cause you looked really tired, you better not be staying up with the three of them having parties." Mom said

Bradley rubbed the back of his head a bit. "Don't worry, I didn't do that. Good idea though!" He said, making them both chuckle.

"Well still, stay safe." Mom said before driving away out of the lot and towards her home in Toontown nearby.

Bradley thought a bit more about last night, trying to piece the scene together as to who would want to kidnap toons as he wandered a bit around the lot, walking in a slight daze before being stopped by Plotz. "A-ha! There you are!" Said the voice of the CEO walking over. "Been waiting for you to come back from school. Something else has happened, come with me." The chairman said with urgency.

The teen followed him to his office again. "Those pictures you sent me, I sent them to the Toontown police too. While we were looking at them, another abduction happened."

Bradley looked a bit shocked at that. "Another one? So quickly?"

"Unfortunately, yes, and more than one. This time we had a clue as to who one of them were, they put down a toon hole to try and escape, but they were pulled back in." Plotz said as he pulled out a picture of a cat toon, with blue fur and glasses on. "Supposed to check in with us and never did."

"How many got taken now?" Bradley asked. "Are these people getting more bold or something?"

"We don't know, but we need you to look into it as soon as possible, or else my business is going to crash right into the ground!" Plotz shouted as he hit his desk, making it crash and fall apart. "Like that." He pressed a button on his still working phone. "Secretary, order me a new desk."

Bradley crossed his arms a little and thought this over. They must've been getting more bold if they were taking more toons at once. But would it make them more sloppy if they actually ended up almost escaping? "Alright, I'll try to look into it." Bradley said after Plotz gave him the location of where it happened as he started walking towards the door to leave, while Plotz tried reassembling his desk with no luck.

* * *

 _Author's note: Yeah, this sequel is a little more serious this time, bit more character and world-building to mix with the predominant Animaniacs humor and characters. I just hope it's not steering too far from the cartoon._


	3. Time to Take Pictures and Take Action

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _3:30 PM_

Bradley scratches his head and thinks about the address given. It was in Burbank again, which puzzled him as to why it was there again. Was it cause the Warner film lot was closer there? He was about to plop down the toon hole to go there before he was stopped by the Warners. "Whatchya doooooin'?" Dot asked.

Bradley softly sighed as the three of them looked at him expectantly. He didn't really want to lie to them, he knew to trust them and they knew to trust him by this time. So he had to come clean, or else they'd just follow him to the next one anyway. "I'm gonna head to check something out. Plotz kinda told me that... Well, toons are getting captured around and I gotta go help see who's doing it." He said a bit sadly, he didn't like this one bit, but it felt right to confess to them.

The three Warners legitimately looked shocked. "Taken toons?" Yakko said fearfully before immediately relaxing. "Where's Liam Neeson when ya need him?"

"Panic!" Wakko shouted before running around in a circle.

Bradley knew they were doing their "overreacting" schtick, but in a way, they weren't too far off on capturing the reactions of any other toon that would've caught wind of this news. But Bradley did have to shush them to grab their attention again before anyone else heard them, soon ending up grabbing them all in his arms. "Come on, calm down please?"

"Only cause you said the magic word." Yakko said with a smirk.

"And people say I'm the clingy one." Dot remarked before Bradley set them back down on the ground.

"Listen, if you really want to help me... Do you wanna come with me?" Bradley asked in a softer tone.

"You mean be like private eyes, detectives, gumshoes?" Yakko said a bit more happily at the idea.

"We don't wear shoes though." Wakko said as he slipped his foot paw off, revealing another paw exactly the same under it as he examined the one he removed for gum.

Bradley chuckled a bit, glad to see that they cheered themselves up like that so quickly. "Yes, exactly those." He points to Yakko. "You're the private eye." He then points to Wakko. "You're the gumshoe." Then to Dot. "And you're the detective." He said to hopefully satisfy them.

"So does that mean you're the Watson?" Dot asked.

Bradley shrugs a bit. "If that'll make you happy, yeah." He said with a smile back at them before taking the toon hole out of his pocket and plopping down on the ground.

"Ohhh, you got one too?" Yakko said in slight surprise.

"There goes our surprise present..." Wakko said sadly.

Bradley smiled and pats Wakko's head. "It's okay, really. We'll get something else. You ready?" He said to them, the siblings nodding. Bradley thought hard about their destination and jumped in, the three Warners deciding to jump in the same hole this time to follow him.

 _3:35 PM, In the real world_

Bradley popped out of the hole with the Warners and ended up near the old warehouse. The human teen hadn't been here for a while, but things haven't changed much on the outside other than a clean-up from the toons putting the factory back in commission.

"I kinda dunno how to feel about this..." Bradley said, feeling uneasy.

"Not to worry!" Yakko said with all three siblings donning detective trench-coats and hats. "We'll find the clues or my name ain't Sir Yakkus Gleebman the Third, Esquire!"

"The perfect sounding detective from Mars." Dot said with crossed arms.

"Mars? You've met Marvin then?" Wakko asked, as if a big fan.

"Why yes, I helped solve his greatest case, why his inventions don't make the Earth go ka-boom!" Yakko said, now in a fake British accent.

Bradley rolled his eyes at their act. "We can do that later, now come on." He said with a smirk, heading towards the factory.

Due to the crime that had happened near here, Toontown actually shut down the factory, at least for the moment. There was already stop signs and tape around, just like a crime scene. No one else was around either, the factory must've had its remaining workers all evacuate for this.

The three Warners had their magnifying glasses up, leaning close to the ground like true cartoon detectives were. Bradley hummed a bit and looked around the area, it looks like it happened while they were at school if they only just now heard of this. "Alright, let's see if there's anything new here..." Bradley muttered to himself.

"Wonder if we can get Dick Tracy on the phone for this." Wakko said to himself.

Yakko shushed him. "It's 'Richard' Tracy, people don't take kindly to some words." He warned his middle brother.

"Does that mean we say it more?" Dot asked.

Yakko nods with a smile. "At least until the censors tug us away by our ears."

Bradley snickered softly and smirked, the Warners' humor always finding a way to lighten things up. But regardless, there was an investigation to do. "Alright, time for clue-searching." He said to himself, humming as he got his own magnifying glass from his hammer-space pockets in his jeans. The Warners did the same and looked around for a bit before Bradley found something.

"Hmm, what's this?" Bradley said as he saw a hole in the ground. It looked like the toon holes to teleport around. He peeked in to see what was on the other side.

As it turned out, the hole led to somewhere in Toontown, which was under investigation by the Toontown Police. Also, at the same time, one of the toon cops poked their head into the other half of the hole, looking into the human world. The cops there jumped a bit in shock, with the human a bit surprised too. "Hey!" Bradley said with a smile, while the Warners back in the human world waved "innocently" at the cop looking in. The others waved at the human before Bradley pulled back out, hearing a *SPLAT* before the cop pulled his head back up simultaneously. He looked like he got pied, making the other toons snicker to themselves.

Bradley got back up, but noticed bits of food on the ground, looking to the Warners. "Banana split, huh?" He asked with a smirk.

"Now with 70% more bananas and 0% more Minions!" Wakko said in a proud tone.

"Lucky us." Dot chimed in.

Bradley chuckles softly and looks back to the hole, gently sighing. "Hmm, I bet that's the same hole our toon friend tried to go through..." He said as he got back serious, kneeling down to get a closer look around it. "But I didn't hear any other stuff about these people going through it... Why didn't they jump in?" He asked to himself, soon seeing more sleeping dust. "Looks like our friend got hit with the dust too... It's like their weapon of choice."

Soon something ended up moving out of the corner of Bradley's eye, there was 3 men in suits heading into the factory. He looked over to them and hid behind some stacked bricks, the Warners soon noticing as well.

"Hey, is that Tommy Lee Jones?" Wakko asked curiously. Bradley shushed him and called them over, soon joining him.

"Like we need a Men in Black 4. What're they doing here?" Bradley said to himself. He never saw them before and didn't recognize their faces at all. Their suits were all black while they carried a bag each. Of what, they didn't know yet. They looked empty.

"Is it time to throw caution to the wind again and see what they're up to?" Yakko asked, with Wakko and Dot throwing some toon with a "Caution" name tag into the air to be carried away, who screamed "Not again!" as they blew away.

Bradley sighed a little and nods. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Hope they land somewhere safe this time." He said as the suits entered the factory. The group followed them inside and sneaking in through the door, tip-toeing through and making gentle piano key noises as they did so, at least the Warners did. Bradley shushed Yakko, then he did the same to Dot, then to Wakko, then he did it to the music guy behind them, making him shrug and leave as their sneaking was now silent.

Soon they were in the main area of the factory, the human looking around the place. There were so many boxes stacked this time, making the area look like it had hallways. Bradley even had a little flashback to that fight 3 years ago with the cat, Rick and Stan. Other than the boxes and it looking cleaner and with reliable power to it opposed to the flickering before, hardly anything's changed about it. The teen shook his head a little and snapped out of it, focusing back on the task at hand.

The Warners decide to climb up to the top of the box stacks in their tower formation, bringing Bradley up with them as they slowly laid down and crawled along until they spotted the suits. Bradley keeps the three siblings back so they wouldn't be spotted.

They saw what looked like a meeting, between the suits and someone else, someone small that none of them recognized. It looked all black and inky, somewhat like the Warners, but definitely different and a little more threatening. It went around giving the suits spray cans, with Bradley getting a look at the labels. It must've been the ACME Sleeping Dust, but in spray form this time, at least that was what Bradley guessed when he linked it to the dust he saw on the ground before.

The suits were each given notes and pictures too. The four kids didn't get to see much more cause the short thing that passed out the items plopped down a toon hole right after and hopped in, disappearing.

He pulled back and whispered to the Warners. "I've seen that stuff before, that looks like the same dust we found on the ground..."

"You sure that's not just perfume samples?" Dot said, lounging along the crates.

"I don't think so..." Bradley said. "And that other person, I never saw them before... They had a hole with him, so they have to be some kind of toon." He guessed with a shrug. Wakko lets out a little sniff as a little spider was descending on him from above, not seeing it yet.

"Well we've never seen them, and we keep a scrapbook of everyone we met." Yakko said, bringing out said huge scrapbook, opening it, pointing out Donald Duck, Snoopy, Babs and Buster Bunny, Freakazoid, Elmer Fudd with the hat over his head and so on. Dot even pointed out a special occasion photo of Christopher Walken, but he acted so much like a toon anyway, they had to include him.

Meanwhile, when Wakko was about to chow down on a candy bar he brought with him, the spider came down and landed on his big red nose, making him freeze immediately.

Bradley pushed the scrapbook away, looking to the others. "Well they gotta be responsible for the toon-napping..." He said with a quiet tone, looking back at the suits reading the notes, getting a good look at a couple of the pictures. "You're the one with the photographic memory, you think you can get a good look at those pictures?" Bradley said to Yakko.

"You kidding? These babies can catch 20 megapixels easy. Right Wak-" Yakko said proudly before turning to see the middle sibling frozen with the spider on his nose. "Uh-oh..."

Dot also looked at Wakko frozen and staring at the spider too, looking worried. "Now that's not a good expression to have."

"What?" Bradley said before seeing the frozen sibling. "What's wrong, haven't seen him act like this before..." He said a little worriedly. "Well hurry and get the pictures before something else happens, I'll calm him down." The human said as he went over to Wakko while Yakko "snapped" the pictures with each blink of his eyes.

"Don't worry Wakko, it's okay... It's just a small thing..." He said in a soft tone as he slowly took the spider by the web to get it off of Wakko's nose. "See? Just a small little-"

"SPIDER!" Wakko shouted, getting his mallet out and making Bradley let go of the web and back up, shushing him to no avail. With one slam, there was one dead spider and three suits staring right at Yakko when they heard the scream.

"Jeez, almost got my foot..." Bradley said as he went back. "Feel better?" He added. Wakko nodded with a smile as if nothing happened.

Yakko however slunk back to where they were, the suits yelling. "Stop, children! Intruders!" One of them said.

Bradley looked over to the Warners as he got up. That shout was their cue to leave, ASAP. "You got the pictures?" He said, with Yakko nodding.

"Got 'em here!" Yakko said as he knocked on his head.

"Alright, let's get out of here!" Bradley said with an urgent tone. By now, the suits already climbed up the boxes and reached the same level as the kids. There wasn't enough time to plant the holes and escape to Toontown, they had to run. Bradley went one way and the Warners went the other way, making the suits split up as well.

Bradley jumped down to from the boxes to the ground, running and turning corners in these hallways of boxes while one suit tailed him. The other two were chasing after the Warners above them.

The three Warners hopped and went "boingy boingy" around them, confusing the two other suits as they tried going in different directions to catch them to no avail. Dot hopped on the bald head of one of them. "Poor thing needs a wig to keep his head warm. You'll catch a cold in this drab factory!" She said as she brought out a bag and picked out a beehive-style wig to put on the suit's head with a few bees in it "to make it a real beehive", she explained.

The bald suit swatted the insects away as best he could, the other one busy dealing with the other siblings. Yakko and Wakko got out a football and pretended to play a game complete with jerseys and gear, having fun with their chase by confusing and tiring out the other suit. Yakko faked getting caught, instead giving the suit the football, making Wakko go after and tackle him. Dot blew a whistle and threw out a yellow flag acting as the ref, calling that there wasn't enough players so she also joined in on the dog-pile on the suit.

The other one, now free but full of stings, ran after the Warners, making them scatter and leaving the first suit exhausted and groaning on his crate.

Bradley meanwhile was mostly trying to hide, the third suit having a little trouble following him thanks to switching between going above and below. He needed to make sure they'd be safe enough to use their toon holes to get out of there.

The Warners were doing good with holding their own, but Bradley remembered they were armed with that sleeping spray. He managed to dodge a spray of it by rolling under the suit's legs, holding his breath and closing his eyes when he did so to be safe. He reached into his pocket and dropped some marbles on the ground too, tripping up the suit and making him fall down and groan in a bit of pain.

Bradley then got an idea, but started regretting it when he reached for the ACME sleep spray in the suit's hand, the other hand grabbing his own. He was trying to get up while Bradley grabbed the other hand with the spray as he fought and grappled with him. Both hands were gripped tightly with the other's as the suit tossed him around and against one of the boxes, but still didn't let go. He grunted and tried to wiggle out to no avail with a "Let go!", trying to keep the suit from getting a spray off.

The human teen got another idea, slamming the suit's hand against another box to make him let go of the spray can and get distracted enough for Bradley to get out the flashlight from his hammer-space jeans pocket. He flipped it on and flashed it in the suit's eyes to get them closed and to stun him.

Sufficiently distracted, Bradley swiped the spray and gave the suit a good dose of it, making him fall back down with a thud, knocked out in seconds. Bradley smirked and climbed back up the boxes, the other two suits sufficiently thrashed with the Warners' puns and covered with either bee stings or pies and bumps from the mallet and so on. But they already had their own sprays out, about to fire, but the Warners leaped up to make them spray each other. Both suits also fell equally unconscious, all three now in a deep slumber.

Bradley sighed in relief as he joined the Warners again when they were sure the suits were conked out. "Whew, you alright?" He asked with a little worry.

Yakko just waved his hand. "Oh it was fine. We do this all the time with the people that tried to censor us on our show."

"And we even got some practice for football tryouts too!" Wakko said happily, jumping up and down.

While Wakko was doing that, Bradley went to the knocked out suits, humming a little in thought. "We oughta take the pictures and notes from them just in case." He said as he took those things from the sleeping suits, looking at the pictures. "Huh, they all look like toons..." He said, before reading the notes. They all were written the same:

"This toon is your target. Do whatever you want to get them back to me."

Bradley definitely looked worried, these definitely were toon-nappers and they definitely had the tools for the job. He took the spray cans too, pocketing them in his jeans before joining up with the Warners. "Alright, we might as well get out of here, we gotta tell Plotz this now." He said with a tone of urgency.

"Awww, but I wanted to go to the hot-dog eating contest in town..." Wakko said sadly.

"Don't worry, we'll get you a pass for next time." Dot said as she pats his back before he went over to look at the suits. "Until then, we can have our own and you can go against Bradley there."

Bradley shook his head a little, waving his hands. "Uhh, no, I'm good thanks." He said with a laugh. "I probably wouldn't win that one."

"Oh come on, we'll give you a big stomach to go along with your jeans." Yakko suggested with a smirk. "Act now and you'll get the worlds cutest sibling for shipping and handling!" He added as he held Dot up for him.

Bradley just smiled and rolled his eyes. "So silly. Come on, let's go before they wake up." He said as he plopped down his toon hole, the other Warners doing the same as they fell through and back into Toontown. Wakko however had a marker in his hand when he came through a little after them.

From the looks of it, the suits' faces all had different writing on them. One looked like a cat, another like the Joker and the third like a Guy Fawkes mask. It'll definitely be embarrassing when they wake up.

 _4 PM, in Toontown_

The group of four returned to the Warner lot, with the human a little exhausted. "Did not expect to be in any sort of fight today..."

"Well good news, you can join the MMA and be just as convincing in one of their fights." Yakko said with a smirk.

"As fun as that'd be I'm sure, I'll pass." Bradley said as he started walking to Plotz's office with the Warners close behind. Bradley did get to thinking though, who even were those suits, and the person giving them the papers to go after the toons? Without them, the toons on the pictures would be safe for now, but for how long?

 _In Plotz's office_

"So you actually found out who was behind the toon-nappings?" Plotz said when Bradley explained what had happened.

"Yup, at least a part of it." The human said. Yakko hummed and danced a bit until some pictures began printing out from his back pants pocket, with printer sounds coming from it too.

"Because the pants printer from _Ned's Declassified_ needed another cameo." Dot said.

"And no one's patented it yet? What a shame." Yakko responded as he finished dancing, passing the pictures he took to Plotz, along with Bradley's own papers of the toons' pictures and notes.

Plotz read them over, muttering to himself at the suits in the pictures, looking between them and the pictures of toons they were given. "What's this small thing in the pictures?" He asked Bradley.

"I... Honestly don't know what or who that is." Bradley said sadly. "It didn't even say anything, just gave the pictures and off it went through a hole. Then we were spotted and we had to put them to sleep with their own spray." He explained with a little worried tone again, mainly at what they'll do when they wake up.

"Well I didn't expect that little extra development along with the investigation. Other than putting the Warners in danger, that's some good work there. I don't really say that often, so don't get used to it." Plotz said as he wagged a finger at the human when he said that.

"Awww, he cares about us!" Wakko said to Plotz's annoyance as he hopped onto the CEO's head.

"Maybe next he'll send us some unions and a Slap Chop! That'd be the nicest thing he's done for us yet!" Dot said happily.

"No and no, now pipe down!" Plotz shouted, steamed already as he shook his head to get Wakko off of him and back to the others. He sighs a little and looks back to Bradley. "Thanks for bringing these, we'll be sure to keep an eye on these three toons especially. I think it's time you get a break from this, we'll let you know when something like this happens again." He said to the teen.

Bradley nods softly in response and smiles. "Good, break time is always nice to look forward to." He said, then there was a big CRASH. The others looked to Wakko having just smashed Plotz's new desk with his mallet.

"What? What else do you do during 'break time'?" Wakko asked curiously.

Bradley chuckles a little and decides to usher the Warners out before Plotz popped a gasket, back to the water tower. Who was that last toon though, he thought to himself. He decides to keep the sleep spray cans in his hammer-space pockets for safekeeping, who knows when they'll come in handy.

 _7 PM, in an undisclosed location_

"Grr... So you were stopped by 4 kids? 3 toons and a human, correct?" Someone said with a slightly young voice, crossing its arms as the suits returned, with their faces still smudged with marker.

"Yes, we're sorry, and they took the pictures and notes too..." One of them said, the one with the cat face on him.

"Hmph, what a shame." The creature said, looking a little irked, but soon slowly shifted to a grin. "Looks like someone finally figured out what we were doing. At least with these toons specifically that we targeted." It added. "I almost thought this would be too easy. Oh well, round up the next batch of toons. Looks like this could be fun after all, setback or not." It said, the suits nodding. "AND CLEAN YOURSELVES UP ALREADY!" It shouted at them, the three suits nodding and backing away.

"They still don't know what I am either, so that's good... That's the way it should be..." It mumbled to itself. "They need to be taught that being forgotten is all that they'll ever look forward to..."

* * *

 _Ooooh, dark. And the mystery continues to grow, who IS this creature? Find out soon as the story progresses!_


	4. New Friends and New Dimension-ed Places

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

 _Also sorry for the delay, went through some pretty bad things these last few weeks, just now getting back into this._

* * *

 _Thursday, 1 PM, at Bradley's school in P.E. in the real world_

"Man, you actually found who did it?" Stan said as he, Bradley and Rick were running laps around the field outside with the rest of the class as a warm-up, now that lunch was over. The Warners were doing their own thing, using unicycles, bicycles, motorcycles, any kind of cycle they can think of as they lapped the other students. The coach wasn't pleased, continuing to yell at the three toons, but the annoyance was like music to them, and they loved it.

"Yeah, or at least part of them." Bradley said, running alongside him. "They were giving pictures to some guys in suits and telling them to go after them, but we managed to stop them before they got to do it."

"So does that mean this mystery's solved?" Stan wondered out loud, with Rick trailing behind, exclaiming to wait for him, which they did.

"Not really, it's still gonna happen, but we know what's going on, so they got it. They told me to relax and take it easy for a while this time." Bradley said with a smile, the running soon over as they took a little break. "Plotz and my mom both said it's time to focus more on my school and stuff, and with making more friends too." He added as they walked to the middle of the court for dodgeball under the shelter.

"Well good. You're still gonna let us know if you need us, right?" Rick said once he joined the other two.

Bradley nodded and chuckles a little. "Don't worry, I will." He assured them.

Soon the whistle blew and the game got started, the 14 students running to get the dodgeballs. Bradley and Rick managed to get one and tossed them at the others, with Rick managing to get one of them out already. The other team threw an onslaught of dodgeballs at them at once, which the three of them managed to get out of the way, but 2 other kids were in the path and got out.

The Warners ended up joining them as cheerleaders, cheering for Bradley's team. "Go go Bradley's team! If they can't do it... Well, someone else can for them." Yakko said.

Dot nudged his side. "Come on, more pep in that step!" The two brothers looked at her with a weird glance. "I know, that was nauseating to say too." She added with a shudder. "Next time I see my agent, I'm making him write the script next."

Bradley chuckles softly at their banter but didn't lose focus, throwing another ball and getting another person on the other team out. Rick and Stan were doing the lob and toss technique, with Rick tossing one in the air and Stan throwing another one for the out. Bradley hadn't played much dodgeball himself, but it didn't seem too hard, but he spent more time dodging than throwing, getting a close call or two as he rolled out of the way of another ball.

Then he saw a girl on his team actually doing pretty well. She was catching a lot more than throwing, but still got her fair share of throws in. She noticed Bradley and decided to copy the lob and toss technique, with the girl lobbing and Bradley sliding in and tossing it when he caught on to the plan. The Warners on the side cheered on, clapping and cheering incessantly with the coach trying to get them to be quiet.

"What? We're just expressing our true love for throwing stuff at other people for amusement!" Yakko said.

"It's like a hobby to us, really." Wakko said with a bright smile. "Like this!" He added as he tossed a pie in the coach's face, making him growl and blow his whistle, but some of the pie got in it and made the whistle sound rather pathetic now.

"Whew, good, that was getting annoying." Dot said, the brothers agreeing. "Can you imagine something that loud lasting that long?"

Yakko shook his head. "I couldn't for the life of me, sis." He said with crossed arms.

Both teams kept doing as best they could, the lob and toss working at least one more time before the other team could see it coming. They had to resort to distractions, like fake-throwing the ball while another student really threw it to throw them off. Rick didn't catch on in time and tossed his too early, the other team member he was targeting side-stepping and ending up getting Rick out.

However, Bradley, Stan and the girl soon saw the last person on the other team, nervous and staring down the business end on a 3-ball throwing squad. After a drum-roll by the Warners on the side, two of them fake-threw and Stan really threw, getting them out with the other two students throwing their dodgeballs right after for good measure because why not.

Soon the game was over and Stan, Bradley and the girl won the match, cheering amongst themselves happily and giving high-fives, with the students on their team that got out joining in the celebration. The whole game lasted about 5 minutes, which was expected. Bradley and his team got the congrats from the Warners too, throwing out confetti and playing music. The coach soon got his whistle working again though and blew into it, telling everyone to get to their next classes now that P.E. was over.

While everyone was saying "good game" to everyone else, Bradley noticed the girl again and decides to talk to her. "Hey, you were doing really nice with catching all of those dodgeballs." He said.

The girl smiles and nods. "Well I'm just glad I got someone to do the lob and toss technique with me this time." She said, going to her locker to get a book and a snack. Bradley got a better look this time now that nothing was being thrown at them in a court, the girl being around his age of 13 with red ginger hair down to her shoulders. Her complexion was soft and she had only a couple of freckles, and was an inch shorter than Bradley. She looked lithe like he was, even slightly more so, dressed in a white and blue-striped collared shirt and long jeans. She wore a bracelet on her left wrist and her hair style was a single ponytail in the back.

"And the firing squad maneuver too." Bradley said with a little laugh. "The last one really looked scared."

The girl giggles too, closing her locker. "I take it you don't know me, huh?"

Bradley rubbed the back of his head. "Not really, never talked until now." He said with a little bashful smile.

"It's fine." She said, holding out her free hand. "Name's Shannon." She introduced with a friendly expression.

"Bradley." He responded, shaking her hand in his. "Good to meet ya!" He said happily, then the bell rang for class.

"Same to you. Gonna go to class, see ya later?" Shannon asked.

Bradley nods and smiles brightly again. "You bet! Maybe we'll talk once there's no dodgeballs to watch out for."

As Shannon left for her classroom and Bradley turned around, the Warners were grinning ear to ear at the boy, baring all their teeth.

"What?" Bradley said with a chuckle.

"Bradley's got a giiiirlfriend, Bradley's got a giiiirlfriend!" They chanted with bright smiles in a sing-song tone, dancing around him.

Bradley shushed them as best he could, getting to his locker. "What do you mean girlfriend, I only just met her." He said as he opened it and got his stuff for his next class.

"Oh you can't hide it, you know there's love in the air!" Dot said with a bright expression, tossing hearts around which popped in the air after a second.

"Tell her you like Don Knotts videos, she'll fall head over heels!" Wakko suggested, with a "no" from Bradley.

"No no, tell her you know a good hairstylist so your hair can match her's!" Yakko suggested as he brought out with a wig of the same style from behind him, again with a "no".

They continued pestering him through the halls and up to the classroom door, to which Bradley had to yell to get their attention. "STOP, PLEASE!" Bradley screamed, making the Warners freeze with a screech in mid-air. Even the class inside looked out to see what had happened through the window on the door.

He sighed softly and looked at them a little calmer. "Listen... I wanna try to do this on my own this time. I don't even know if it'll go anywhere, but I wanna see how this goes myself, at least for now. If I need your help, I'll let you know, okay?" He explained, trying to not leave things too open-ended so they weren't confused or take it literally.

The Warners nodded and landed back on the ground once he was done talking. "Don't need to tell us twice!" Yakko said with a smile again.

"But 47 times?" Bradley said with a happier tone, dropping the whole angry attitude. He couldn't stay mad at them.

"Or just until they sic Ben Stein on us." Dot said.

"Heh, right." Bradley said as the discussion ended there, heading into class.

 _3:30 PM_

After school was done, Bradley's mom came in to pick him and the Warners up, driving down the road. "So how was your day today?" She asked curiously.

"Went good, dodgeball was a lot of fun while Yakko, Wakko and Dot were cheering us on at the sidelines." Bradley said with a happy tone. "That and we got to see Yakko in a cheerleading outfit."

The other siblings snickered at that, but Yakko wasn't amused. Bradley apologized when he saw that reaction though.

"It's alright, at least you got yourself your girlfriend." Yakko said with a smirk.

Bradley was about to say something when Mom interrupted. "A girlfriend, really?" She said curiously.

"Well, we only just met, she helped our dodgeball team and we talked a bit after. Her name's Shannon." Bradley explained.

"She's got hair as red as fire, and cute freckles to trace out a boat with..." Yakko said dreamily... but in Bradley's voice.

"And she can throw those dodgeballs with the best of 'em..." Dot added with a swoon, also in Bradley's voice.

Bradley snickers and turned back. "Stoooooop!" He said with a smile, knowing they meant well. It seemed like a joke anyway, but who knows what'd happen. She definitely seemed nice, maybe getting to know her more would build that friendship.

"Well it's good you're making more friends at that school, I was worried about those 8th graders I saw earlier while I was waiting on you." Mom said.

Bradley thought a little about that. "Oh, you mean those big guys with football gear and jackets?" Wakko said. "They seemed like a nice bunch, so I offered them some cake!"

Bradley raised a eyebrow at that. "Did you do that while I wasn't looking?"

Wakko smiled brightly and pressed the top of his head, with a screen popping out from his opened cap to show the conversation as if there was an outside camera recording it for a TV show. The three 8th graders told the Warners to get out but to give them the cake anyway. "Well okay, since you asked so nicely." The Yakko in the screen said, holding up the cake while Wakko and Dot put their faces in it before running off. It must've been somewhere else in the school while Bradley was talking to Shannon.

The human teen just huffed and rolled his eyes. "Of course you did."

"Gotta pass the time somehow. It's not like we can watch Cartoon Network and their 24/7 'new favorite show' marathon." Yakko said with a bit of a disgusted face.

"And they wonder why people don't like them anymore." Dot said as she relaxed in her seat.

"Would you rather have Nickelodeon and force your theme sequence to change to all 'Nick' all the time?" Bradley said with a smirk.

"NOOOOOO!" All three Warners screamed, almost making Mom's van swerve off the road.

"That's what I thought." The teen said with a laugh after having to hold onto the overhead handle to be safe. After that, it went back to games as usual on the way to Toontown.

 _Back in Toontown_

They soon went through the tunnel to the Warner lot as the four of them were dropped off back at the tower. The Warners rolled out a red carpet from the door and onto the ground, waving at cameras and paparazzi that happened to show up as well. Bradley rolled his eyes as they relished in their fame, deciding to head out the other way and walk around to Mom so the two of them wouldn't be distracted the the siblings' popularity bit. "Can I ask you something Mom, before you go?" He asked with a softer tone.

Mom nods while the Warners were distracted with the autographs and attention. "Sure, what is it?"

Bradley gently sighed as he explained. "Well, the whole thing with meeting Shannon, and the Warners making a big deal out of it... She did seem really cool though. I think I could talk to her again to see if we can hang out after school next time." He said with a little smile.

Mom couldn't help but feel a little proud of what he said, smiling brighter. "Oh, sure!" She said happily. "I bet you'll be great friends!"

"Yeah, I just hope the others don't really rub it in..." Bradley said with a shrug.

"Rub what in?" Said the familiar voice of Yakko, as the Warners were now right beside him and up close.

The teen jumped a little and sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Still hadn't gotten used to that kind of greeting. "I dunno, food in our faces? Aren't we hungry?" He said, trying to switch topics.

Wakko raised his hand. "Oh ooh, I am!" He said eagerly, listing off lots of foods, normal and combinations alike.

Bradley faced his mom again after a little laugh as Wakko talked. "Well, we'll see either way, I'll let you know how it goes." He said, to which Mom nodded in understanding.

"Alright then, I'll keep an ear open." Mom said as she put the car in reverse.

"If you can't, we got 6 to spare!" Yakko said. Mom said she was fine, laughing a bit too before she backed out and drove out of the lot and towards her toony home, though that happy look faded a little, having missed those kinds of conversations with her son.

Bradley sort of caught the same expression change too before shaking his head. "Daydreaming about Shaaaaanon?" Dot said on his shoulder suddenly, saying her words in a teasing tone.

Bradley rolled his eyes at that and starts to walk to the Water Tower. "Like I said, I don't even know if it'll go anywhere. If you see us holding hands soon, then you can say we're a couple." He said with a laugh.

"Okay, now can you repeat that for clarity?" Yakko said as he held a voice recorder to Bradley's face while Wakko wrote down something, which was really a drawing of a cow.

Bradley snickers a bit at that, pushing the recorder away. "Come on, time for some games, maybe we'll see some reruns of your show on TV." He said with a smile as he soon reached the top, opening the tower door.

"Oh yeah, we were still doing that apparently." Yakko said with a little huff. Bradley looked a bit confused at that.

"I thought you wanted to, Plotz even gave you three another shot, remember?" The human said as they entered the tower.

"Yeah, but we wanted it to be a surprise." Wakko said with a frown.

Bradley thought back and remembered seeing some stuff about the _Animaniacs_ reboot online on their computer a long while ago, humming a little at remembering all those articles about it. "Hmm, right..."

"Now we gotta postpone it longer so we can really surprise them. Cause that's what we're all about!" Yakko added.

In response, Wakko and Dot jumped up in front of Bradley and screamed "EXACTLY!", making him jump back, then laugh.

"And you still do a good job at it." Bradley said with a smile, hopping onto the couch and turning the TV on, indeed having one of their finished new _Animaniacs_ episodes on. Since they were done making them, Toontown would air them first, Bradley personally finding that really a cool perk. The Warners all bunched up together around him, again demonstrating that personal space was a myth to the three toons, and watched the show.

 _7 PM_

The sun was setting and the moon was about to rise, another day come and gone. Bradley was putting some stuff in his hammer-space pants pockets for later, like a phone, the sleeping spray cans he got before, his wallet, the flashlight and a few more gags. He can never be too prepared to when he'll be called to action again.

"You heading out again?" Wakko asked from behind the teen.

Bradley shook his head. "Nah, just preparing just in case."

"In case of what? I always keep extra things in case of a food emergency." The middle sibling said as he pulled out a comically-big turkey leg from under his red hat and bit into it.

Bradley just rolled his eyes with a little smile. "In case Plotz calls me over about the toon-napping case, I can't stop thinking back to that last toon that left when we were at the warehouse." He said as he sat on the bed. "I know he said nothing else has happened yet, but I'm still worried."

"Well don't be, we ain't your normal toons, remember?" Yakko said as he joined the others.

"Besides, with what we've seen, who could possibly WANT to take little ol' us?" Dot added as she walked in.

Thinking back to all those episodes Bradley had seen, she had a point, shrugging. "Eh, fair enough. Other than me, of course." He said with a proud smile.

"Well ain't you a special one." Yakko said as a joke, meaning well.

Bradley snickers at that, heading outside to the edge of the Water Tower with them. "I just hope we can solve this mystery soon though. Maybe I just need to take my mind off of it though..." He said as he watched the sunset.

The Warners got together and muttered some gibberish to themselves, thinking of an idea, before breaking the huddle. "Then kid, have we got an idea for you!" Dot said happily.

The human turned around to see them. "Yeah?" He said curiously, clearing his throat because puberty. "What is it?"

Yakko walked over, leaning on the railing of the tower with a smile. "When was the last time you saw something 3D here?" He asked.

Bradley hummed a bit in thought for a second. "I... Don't think we've ever seen something in 3D here yet." He said, leaning on the railing too. "Why do you ask?"

"Then we've got something really fun to show you!" Wakko said happily with his goofy smile.

"It's a no-no place to Plotzy, so that means it's REALLY fun!" Dot added, hopping onto the railing too, balancing on it like nothing.

"Well what is it then?" Bradley said with a little chuckle, all that build-up must be leading up to something really good. The Warners all smirked and dropped down a rather big toon hole to the ground at the bottom of the tower, then all held on to each other's hands as they hopped onto the railing and brought Bradley with them.

"One, two, three!" They shouted before jumping with Bradley in their hands before the human could say anything to object, ending up screaming as the four of them fell through the whole and up somewhere else, with the teen panicking cause he didn't know where they would take him.

 _At the other side_

The four kids hopped out from the other side of the toon hole and landed on their feet, with the human looking more than surprised and almost falling on his butt, but managing to recover.

"I'd like to see Disney World try to have a ride THAT intense." Dot said with that smirk again, hands on her hips.

Bradley shook his head as he got back up. "Jeez... Where'd we go anyway?" He asked with a curious tone, looking everywhere but behind him. The Warners fixed that by turning him right around. When they did, the boy saw what looked like a huge city, full of lights and people, but unlike Toontown, it was all full of 3D characters walking along the roads and wasn't bouncing around every so often.

The human looked even more surprised, he never saw this place before. "What is this, where'd you find it?" He said in awe.

"The things you can do with a spyglass these years." Yakko said with a proud tone.

The Warners then hopped in front of him, about to say something in unison with a drum roll sound in the background. "Bradley... Welcome to CGI City!"

* * *

 _Author's Note: Sorry this wasn't out sooner, life hit me pretty hard lately. That and I was kind of stuck on a couple of parts on how to continue this. But we finally did it, now onto the next part, which hopefully won't take forever this time!_


	5. CG Shenanigans

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

Bradley and the Warners walked to the entrance of this new city, the human still looking a little astounded at the fact that something like this place existed. He never saw anything like it before, it was much bigger and more city-like than Toontown was. Behind the four of them, the glimmering lights of said Toontown were visible, but a long ways away.

"So really, how did you find this place?" Bradley asked the siblings, walking along the sidewalk once they entered the city.

"Well we heard Plotz talking about trying to strike some sort of deal with them since all he knows are the two dimensions of tooning." Yakko said.

"So when we heard the name, we bounced around and ended up here!" Wakko said. "They threw us out when we met those three Martians and asked why they looked that butt-ugly though."

"And when I tried giving them enough makeup to not break their mirrors." Dot added. "You have no idea how much ink got wasted on that!"

"I can only imagine." Bradley said as they wandered, looking at all the CGI-ed characters. The human teen wasn't used to seeing them as opposed to the 2-D toons before, but had assumed they all were SOMEWHERE. They came across the 3D Inspector Gadget, Max Steel, the LEGO people, some characters from the Jimmy Neutron show, even 3D versions of the Disney toons like Mickey and Minnie while Yakko crossed some stuff off on a list of paper titled "List of Cameos". Seems even adding a different dimension didn't diminish their popularity any.

But then they came across the really bad ones that the other CGs stayed away from, such as the ReBoot group and especially a duo called Fanboy and ChumChum. Speaking of them, Bradley and the Warners found their home in a familiar form of a water tower. It was made out of wood, but it looked like the Warners' tower, had their own logo on it and everything. That got the siblings a little more than upset, but a bit more unimpressed than anything.

"Isn't 'imitation the sincerest form' or something?" Bradley said, noticing their expressions.

"Depends, can it turn into a giant mech robot and fight giant insects?" Yakko responded.

"Can it turn into a rocket and blast off to find aliens?" Wakko added.

"Can it hold a roller coaster and a TV and a fashion walkway at the same time?" Dot quipped.

Bradley looked at the three of them and shook his head. "Ehhh, doesn't look like it. Wonder if we can make that happen though. At least the second one." He said with a little smirk.

The Warners saw him smirk and caught on, also smiling brightly. "Ooooh, he's grinning that grin again!" Wakko said happily, jumping up and down.

"I smell plan!" Yakko said, taking a deep sniff. "Either that or it's city stench." He added with a disgusted face, waving his hand over his red nose.

"I hope the catering table's full again, I'm so hungry I could eat the whoooooole Water Tower!" Wakko said at the thought of smells, which almost always equalled food to him as he grinned a bit hungrily in thought.

Bradley rolled his eyes. "Well you can't eat this one, but I think I got an idea to make it more similar." He added, bringing the Warners in for a huddle to talk about their plan.

 _A few minutes later_

Once everything was in place, the four of them hid and placed a trail, the other CGs looking at them oddly while they did so, mainly because of the Warners. They waited for a minute, then saw Fanboy and ChumChum skipping down the sidewalk.

"So that's what they look like?" Dot asked curiously from their hiding spot around a corner. "Yeesh, not even a 'Project Runway' touch-up would make them look good."

"Well there's a lot of different CG styles out there." Bradley explained. "Just that, you know... Not all of them look good."

"You can say that again." Yakko said in agreement.

"Not all of them look good." Bradley repeated.

"Thanks." Yakko said with a smile as they watched on.

The two "marks" looked at the candy trail left on the sidewalk. "Oooh, candy!" Fanboy said eagerly.

"Where do you think it leads to?" ChumChum said curiously.

"Maybe to a secret treasure trove, or an evil dragon's lair!" Fanboy explained in an over-the-top voice.

"Or an upgrade past Paint 3D." Yakko snarked in a quieter voice to the amusement of the toons. Bradley kept a close watch as the other two CGs followed the trail into their own water-tower-like house, the group walking closer so they could hear them inside.

The trail ended to a button that had a note with scriggly handwriting, saying "press me for fun".

"Should we press it?" ChumChum asked.

"When there's fun promised with pressing a button, you always press that button." Fanboy explained, finger raised and eyes closed as he played teacher.

"Huh, we could use a phrase like that." Yakko said after a bit of curious thinking.

Bradley looked into the window and both of them slammed the button down with both hands. "Okay, time to back up!" He warned the other three, jumping down the house and running away(after the Warners caught him before hitting the ground cause it was so high up). There were some rocket engines attached to the legs of the home and they were warming up pretty fast. After some more noise, they ignited and started blasting off, propelling the tower into the air! Fanboy and ChumChum inside let out happy "WHEEE!"s as they flew through the sky, none of them knowing where they'd land though.

"So, now is it like your tower?" Bradley asked, brushing himself off.

"Ehhhhhh, I'd give it a B." Yakko said.

"Why?" Bradley asked.

There was an "OW" from the inside of the flying tower, a few of them actually, accompanied by stinging sounds.

"Oh, that's why." The human said with crossed arms. "That was fun though, let's see what else they have here!" He added, the excitement returning to his voice.

 _7:30 PM_

After some more exploring and a few thanks from a couple CGs for their stunt getting Fanboy and ChumChum away from them for a while, the four of them ended up meeting a familiar face, with the cane, suit and very furry face.

"Hey, it's Mr. Kitty!" Wakko said happily as he tried hopping on top of the cat's top hat.

The cat hums a bit. "How droll of a nickname. But I see another happy face right here." He said as he pats Bradley's head.

The human teen chuckles from the pats. "Hi to you too. What're you doing here?" He asked curiously.

"I take it this is your first trip to CG City? And theirs as well?" The toon feline asked, the three Warners shaking their heads fast and in unison. Bradley nodded though. "I see. Well I'm here on a favor from one of my recently-established connections in this place, to see if I can get some sort of clue on this mystery of yours."

"Ah, right. We're just taking a break, these three just brought me here." Bradley said with a little hum.

"And I see you've already started making this city your own." The cat said, pointing to Fanboy and ChumChum's tower still flying around in the sky.

"Well what can we say, we just leave that sort of impression." Dot said with a little giggle.

"Usually they scream and run instead of going 'whee', but we can't be that picky all the time." Yakko said.

The cat rolled his eyes at that. "Anyways, with that situated, would you like to walk with me?" He asked.

Bradley had to pull the Warners away to avoid having them swarm the cat with various answers, which was easier said than done. "I'll answer for them, 'yes'." He said after another second of calming them down, the cat nodding as they walked down the sidewalk.

"So what's this favor of yours that you gotta do?" Bradley said curiously.

"Well I have to get some annoying movie CGs from their friend's house, they're partying in their front yard and won't leave." The cat explained as they walked. "So I figured I'd talk to them, but see as how you're here, they could respond more to craziness to match them."

"So you actually WANT us to be all unhinged?" Wakko asked as he hopped on Bradley's head.

The cat just shrugged. "As long as it gets the job done, then I honestly can't complain."

Bradley thought that was a good point as well, snickering a bit and lifting Wakko off his head to sit down on his shoulders instead. "'CGs' though? Is that the real name for them?"

"But of course." The nameless feline said. "Just as me and your friends are called 'toons' for being drawn and 2-D. Here, they were made or remodeled with computer programs." He explained, pointing out several examples of both good and bad kinds of CG as they walked. "Some look better or worse than others, but they're all just as computerized as the next in this place. It's a rather recent addition to this world that I've only found out a short while ago myself, but they've never really bothered us. They can be crazy or civil just like us, but with an added dimension to them."

"Mm-hmm..." Bradley hummed in thought, taking this new information in. It was good to know that computer-made cartoons had a place here too. Even though the whole thing still seemed odd and new to him, it's still always fun to find out new things about this world though.

 _8 PM, In the human world_

Rick and Stan were walking along the sidewalk to try and have fun and pass the time, looking for something to do. They could try to help out with this mystery, which they discussed while they were talking before.

"So what do those suits even look like anyway?" Stan said. "Did Brad even tell us?"

Rick hummed a bit in thought at that question. "I don't know, but if they're in suits, they shouldn't be hard to find, right?" He responded as he looked around. He wanted to call Bradley for some help, but figured they could handle things on their own.

After about 15 minutes of wandering, they weren't turning up anything. Stan growled a bit in frustration. "Man, we haven't found anything at all, I'm starting to think Bradley lied." He said with a frown.

Rick patted his shoulder. "We just haven't looked everywhere yet. Come on." He said, leading him to another alley near where the first toon was kidnapped. While they did that, someone else peeked around the corner, muttering something softly.

"They're on our trail, what do we do?" The person said.

"Make sure they're somewhere secret, then put them to sleep." The other creature said on the other end, likely the boss.

Rick and Stan continued down the alley, with Rick kneeling down at something. "Hey, look at this..." He called out to Stan, who walked over to him.

"Yeah, what's up?" Stan said. Rick picked something up.

"What do you make of this?" Rick said.

Stan got a closer look, it was the can of sleep spray. "That looks familiar... Like the stuff I used years ago but in a can, not a bag."

"You think someone got knocked out here?" Rick asked curiously.

"Maybe... So Bradley was telling the truth after all?" Stan said as he got back up.

"Yeah, weren't you listening?" Rick said, shoving Stan in the arm a little.

"Yeah I was, Ricky." Stan responded with a shove back and a chuckle.

Rick frowned at being called that. "Hmph... Anyways, he said the next place was the warehouse where he found the suits... You think they're there again?"

"Man I don't know, I just wanna go to bed." Stan said with a groan.

Suddenly someone appeared from the corner into the alley. "We can help with that." They said as they entered the alley with the two of them, can of sleep spray in their hand. It was one of the suits.

The two teens stepped back, with Stan clenching his fists. "What do you want, nerd?" He called out.

"Oh, just you two out of the way, boss's orders. I doubt it'll take much effort." The suit said, walking closer.

Rick was a bit scared and stepped back, but Stan stood his ground. "You callin' us 'easy'?!"

"Oh hush now, it's your bedtime." The suit said with a smirk.

 _Meanwhile back in the toon world_

While that was going on, Bradley, the cat and the Warners reached the place the cat's friend was talking about, and sure enough, what looked like a big polar bear and a group of smaller creatures surrounding him polluted the front yard.

"Ah, there we are, I figured he hadn't left yet." The feline said.

"Who's that exactly?" Bradley said.

"Looks like a reskin of _Open Season_." Yakko said with hands on his hips.

"He looks like a Merry-Go-Round ride!" Wakko said happily, about to jump on, but Bradley held him back.

"Easy now, let's wait until we hear what the cat says about what to do." Bradley said.

"Oh, I was going to suggest just that, drive him out like you do everyone else my dear little inkblots." The cat said with crossed arms and a soft smirk.

The Warners all gasped, then grinned to each other, liking this plan already.

"His name is Norm, a polar bear that has been driving everyone else in this place annoyed since his debut went sour." The cat explained, regarding his movie. "A sad tale really, his studio just didn't know how to wield him properly."

"Well that didn't stop Plotzy from OKing our 99-episode show, we're only just a little nuts." Yakko said, with Wakko nodding and eating a big bag of pistachios as big as his body. "I said a LITTLE nuts, little brother." He added with a little smirk.

"Ahh, right!" Wakko said as he crunched the bag down to the size of a quarter and ended up eating the whole thing. Yakko smiled in approval.

"So I guess the humans still need to learn some things about using them, huh?" Bradley said with a little worry.

"Some learned, but yes for the others, which is rather unfortunate." The cat said with a frown.

"Well, we'll talk about those later, right now we gotta get this bear outta here." Bradley said, looking over to the Warners. "You got a plan?" He asked Yakko.

"All right here, kid!" The eldest Warner said as he, Wakko and Dot brought out a giant book from Wakko's Gaggy Bag, titled "The Big Book of Perfect Plans", setting it onto the ground with a big "THUD".

"Jeez, that thing's giant..." Bradley said to himself.

"You should see what they got in the library, makes this one look like a pamphlet to Universal Studios." Yakko said. They opened the book up, with Bradley and the cat joining in to look.

 _Back in the human world_

The suit that Rick and Stan encounted looked worse for the wear, his clothing ripped and looking incredibly tired.

"Don't mess with the sports boy, guy." Stan said, walking over to the suit, now scared. Stan wasn't looking too good either, very tired as well, but definitely better than the other one. Rick stood nearby watching. "What's wrong with all that confidence, buddy? Poor suit looks all scared now." Stan taunted with a smirk.

"Grr, my boss will hear about this!" The suit said as he got up, dusting himself off as if nothing happened. "Far much more trouble than you're worth."

"Stop callin' us 'easy'!" Stan said, about to grab the suit again. The man was prepared this time, getting a can of sleep spray out from his pocket as he aimed and sprayed it at the charging teen. It sprayed him right in the face, getting him tired and knocking him out right away.

"Stan!" Rick shouted fearfully, about to run to help, but the suit aimed the can at him too.

"Whew, now that that's settled... Don't you dare follow me." The suit said to Rick as he panted lightly from tiredness, plopping a toon hole onto the ground and jumping in, disappearing somewhere else. Rick looked down at his knocked out friend, sighing a little and starting to lift him up onto his feet.

"That guy wasn't normal... Come on, let's get you-" He started, soon seeing a piece of the ripped clothing from the suit on the ground, picking it up with one hand while holding Stan up in the other. "This could be kinda interesting..." He said as he pocketed it, heading towards the direction of the Toontown Tunnel.

 _Back in the toon world_

"Alright, you all got your roles figured out?" Bradley asked the Warners, the cat smiling behind him.

The Warners all nodded. "Yup, I'm the one that puts on the Iron Man suit, right?" Yakko said as he brought out what seemed like a Halloween costume version of that same suit.

Bradley raised an eyebrow at that. "Really?" He said, hoping they didn't forget.

"Oh relax, I'm just spoofin' ya!" The older Warner sibling said. "We got it, this ain't our first roundabout!"

"Yeah, you've seen our stuff with Ralph, this is gonna be easy." Dot assured the human after hopping on his head before landing back on the ground. "We're like the toony Avengers but without Chris Hemsworth." She said with a little sigh of dismay.

"Or Scarlett Johansson." Wakko said with an equally sad sigh along with Yakko, to which Dot uttered "boys" in an annoyed tone.

Bradley seemed convinced, smiling lightly and nodding. "Alright then, if you're ready, then it's showtime." He said with a smirk, the Warners smiling again as they stretched and limbered up. "I'll be with the cat if you need me." He added, with the cat nodding in agreement.

Once they were ready, the Warners slowly snuck into the front yard where Norm and his Lemming friends were dancing to the upbeat tempo of their music coming out of a rather tall speaker. Soon there was a stop to the dance music after a click.

"Hey, who turned off the beats?" Norm asked out loud, the CG polar bear looking to his Lemmings who shrugged amongst themselves, muttering that they didn't do it. Norm went back to turn the speakers back on, but there was no music coming out of them either. The Lemmings skittered to the speaker, wondering what was going on, then a pair of gloved hands plugged it back in. Right after, a blaring symphony of circus music came flooding out, sending the Lemmings flying and Norm falling down. He crawled against the force of the music to turn the speakers down, groaning and finally pressing a button on it to turn it off.

"Did ya enjoy those tunes?" Yakko said as he laid down along the back of the bear.

"We got a full soundtrack to cover, don't turn it off now!" Wakko added, hopping off the speaker and landing right next to his older sibling, making the bear groan from the landing on his belly.

"Ooh, a dogpile!" Dot added as she jumped in to join the other sibs, leaving Norm dazed and shaking his head.

"Or a 'whatever-we-are pile', but it doesn't sound that catchy." Yakko said to the readers.

Norm sat up, making the Warners fall off onto the ground. "Hey, what's the big idea? I was just chilling out!"

"Well as much as we'd love a dance and rave like a Skrillex reunion, this ain't really the best place for it." Yakko said.

"Yeah, this yard looks pretty boring to me." Dot added. "So much green, barely any popping out colors to show it's a party."

"Oh, I can fix that!" Wakko said, changing into a painter's smock with a brush, painting something along the grass. Each time he dipped the brush into the paint, it was a different color.

"Bradley, you're sure they know what they're doing, right?" The cat whispered to the human teen.

"Hey, if it'll get your bear off their lawn faster, it'll work." Bradley whispered back.

Wakko was soon finished, humming and putting the paint away as some flowers began to rise out of it.

"And what are they?" Norm asked, with one of the lemmings poking one of the flowers.

"Oh just some plants, they have our favorite songs and our non-favorite songs." Dot explained.

"Like?" The CG polar bear said.

The Warners said nothing, but instead put earmuffs on, passing two more to Bradley and the cat, putting them on too. Yakko was changed into a conductor, tapping a stand and starting a song. It was the Smurfs theme song and it was rather loud, with Dot on the tuba and Wakko on the trumpet adding to it. The polar bear and lemmings covered their ears, groaning and looking tense and annoyed. The siblings didn't stop for a good minute, with Norm slamming his fist on the grass. "Okay, okay, stop! Please, just stop playing that song!" Norm shouted.

The Warners didn't listen cause of the earmuffs, continuing to play for another minute with notes coming out of the horns from Wakko and Dot hitting the bear and lemmings on the head until they finally stopped. Yakko sighed and smiled at the other siblings. "Good work, ya made those Smurfs proud."

"That's what we were playing? I thought it was from a Nickelodeon movie soundtrack." Wakko said with a shrug.

"Wrong network." Yakko responded.

"If you wanted me to leave, you could've just said something!" Norm shouted, more than peeved off.

"We did, several times!" The cat said. Bradley watched on, crossing his arms.

"Oh. Well, those people were all just haters anyway, and if there's anything I learned, it's don't listen to the haters." Norm said matter-of-factly, the lemmings nodding in agreement.

The cat sighed and slapped his forehead. "That's what got him in this to begin with..." He said in a quieter tone to Bradley.

"Oh we're not haters, we're just, ehhhhh..." Yakko started.

"We're people with good taste!" Wakko interrupted.

"When was the last time you tasted anything?" Dot asked.

"Well I ain't moving cause some haters tell me to." Norm said with crossed arms, looking stubborn.

"Well we can always go to track two of our party soundtrack." Yakko said with a smirk, pressing some buttons on the DJ record console.

The CG bear looked scared, shaking his hands. "No no no, no more music, we're going!" Norm shouted as the lemmings covered their ears, starting to leave, but the Warners stopped them.

"Hey where're ya going, we're just getting the party started!" Wakko, setting up a craft service table of food before biting the table itself.

"Uh-oh..." Bradley mumbled to himself.

"What's the matter?" The cat asked.

"You told them to be their naturally zany selves... You know they take stuff like that literally, right?" The teen said, looking worried before they looked back at the Warners. They shouted out that it was game time, so the Warners got on either side of the lawn with slingshots. Yakko and Dot had pies while Wakko's had a lemming in it. They really thought they were helping the party.

"Oh dear..." The cat said with a sigh as both he and Bradley watched on. The human looked behind him at the buildings across the street, with some of other CGs already getting suspicious and looking at the scene weirdly. "Bradley, you better stop them before things get truly out of control."

"Good idea. Hey Warners, I think he got the message." Bradley called out.

The siblings however didn't listen, so they did their slingshot war with lots of confections and the occasional lemming flying through. Norm was right in them middle of it, trying to get out of the way, but the 2D toons were too fast and he kept getting bapped by cupcakes, other foods, lemmings and even other animals like a turkey.

"Hey guys and girl, I think he got the point!" Bradley called out in a louder tone.

The Warners stopped and looked at the bear. "He's right, his fur's all messy! Let's clean him up!" Dot suggested as they all hopped onto the polar bear and got into a scuffle cloud.

"Guys, enough's enough already!" Bradley shouted, getting a little mad.

"You need to step in there, they look like they're in their own world." The cat suggested.

The cloud diminished and Norm looked like he had a curly wig on, with Dot using the lemmings to apply makeup and blush on his face.

"GQ's gonna love this for their animal edition." Yakko said. "Or maybe Animal Planet, they look like they're missing a dress-up bear from their line-up." Norm wiped the stuff off his face and tried to back away, but the Warners noticed and were about to pounce again.

Bradley had enough. He hopped over the fence and grabbed the Warners from behind in his arms, trying to wiggle free. "Come on guys, he got the point!" Bradley shouted, the toons finally stopping and getting the message.

"Heh, sorry Brad. " Yakko said with a shrug once the human teen set them back down.

"We were just making the party more fun!" Wakko added.

"The point was to get him out of here and STOP the party!" Bradley said with an angry tone this time. "Not add to it!"

"It's okay, I got the message." Norm said with a sigh. "This is what happens when you let the haters get to you." He added as the lemmings hopped on his shoulders, all of them leaving the yard.

The cat watched them go and looked back at Bradley and the toons, frowning lightly. "Hmm... Are they finally starting to wear on you?" He asked curiously.

Bradley calmed down a bit. "Not really, I just... I guess I still gotta get used to them taking things literal." He said with a little shrug, sitting down in the grass.

"Awww, sorry kid." Dot said.

"Maybe it's your puberty thing, huh?" Yakko suggested, with Wakko poking Bradley's side.

The human gently sighed, relaxing a little more. "Maybe, yeah... Either way, it's done, right?" Bradley said to the cat.

The suited feline nodded. "Yup, I asked you to get him out of my friend's yard and you did. I'll let him know, but for now, I think it's time you four went back home. You especially need a rest." He said to Bradley, who nodded.

"Yeah, good idea, it's break time..." Bradley said with a sigh. The Warners all frowned at that idea.

"Aww, but we only just got here!" Wakko said. "I haven't got to see that big green guy and his pet mule yet!"

"In this big city, I doubt we'll find what you're looking for before bed." Bradley said with a soft chuckle, standing back up and getting his toon teleport hole from his pocket, the three Warners getting the hint and doing the same. "You're not coming?" He said to the cat.

"I have to report to my contact. Don't fear, I'll let you know if they tell me anything useful." The feline toon said.

"Alright, if you say so." Bradley said with a nod, hopping into the hole after thinking of his destination, the Warners yelling "Wheeeee!" when they jumped into their own.

 _9 PM, back at the Warner Movie Lot_

The four of them managed to make it back, but Bradley looked less than thrilled. He was used to them not listening to him sometimes, but this was to help prevent a bigger crisis. He thought they'd rein it in a touch and not go overboard. But either way, the job was done and the boy just wanted to sleep.

But he couldn't get the chance for now as Plotz walked over, as if waiting for them. "Bradley!" Said the gruff voice of the CEO.

"Heeey Plotzy, long time no talk!" Yakko said, the three Warners coming in for a group hug.

"Wait to you hear where we went!" Dot said happily.

Plotz shook and threw them off. "I don't know if I should care or not. Bradley, your friends are waiting for you in my office."

"Hm? Why?" The human asked curiously, scratching his head.

"It looks serious, so come on already!" Plotz shouted, like he wasn't being listened to. Bradley nods and follows him to the admin building, the Warners following Bradley close too.

When they got there, they saw Rick and Stan sitting down. Well Rick was, Stan was still knocked out. Rick looked at the people entering, focused on Bradley and looking worried.

"Whoa, what happened? You look like you got in a huge fight." Bradley said as he rushed over to them.

"We did..." Rick said with a worried tone. "We found more of those suits, Stan fought one of them, but... He used that spray thing on him."

"The sleep spray again..." Bradley said to himself.

"And..." Rick added, getting something out of his pocket. "During the fight, this was on the ground." He said as he brought out the ripped suit piece.

"Ah-ha, a clue, Sherlock!" Yakko said in a British accent, with a bubble pipe and trenchcoat no less.

"I call Watson!" Wakko shouted with his hand raised.

"What about me?" Dot asked with a frown.

"You can be ol' Mrs. Hudson." Yakko said with a smirk, to which Dot let out a "hmmph" with crossed arms.

Bradley looked at the torn suit piece closely. "From the guy you were fighting?" He asked. Rick nodded in response. "Hm... This could be a bit useful." Bradley said.

If this new clue could help them find out more about what they were up against, they'd be a step closer to solving and fixing this problem before any more toons got kidnapped...

* * *

 _Author's Note: I'm honestly sorry for taking so long to complete this. Life got in the way again and I had writer's block. I was trying my best to get back into Animaniacs again, at least enough to continue._


	6. New Friends While the Plans Unfold

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _The next morning, 6:30 AM_

Bradley was woken up extra early by knocking on the water tower door, sitting up and shaking his head and rubbing his bedhead. He groans a little as the knocking continued constantly, getting out of bed and opening the door. "What, what is it?" He said a bit grumpily.

His mother was at the door this time, hands on her hips. "Now is that any way to talk to me?"

Bradley recognized her and rubs his eyes, shaking his head. "Sorry, just not used to being up this early." He said in a sleepy tone.

"But you're used to staying up til 2 in the morning by now." Mom said in response.

Bradley thought a little about it, but nods. "Got me there... Anyways, what're ya doing here?" He asked after looking back at the still sleeping Warners. Rick and Stan were likely still asleep at the admin building.

"Well I wanted to come check on you first, but I heard that CEO bring me over to tell you to go to him. Sounds pretty important and he wouldn't tell me what." Mom explained.

"Right, sorry. I'll head there right now." Bradley said with a nod and little smile, heading to the ladder and starting to slide down, but was stopped by Mom's voice again.

"Hold on. You're not hiding anything from me, are you? Remember the last time you tried hiding something big from me?" Mom said with crossed arms.

"You're never gonna let that bit go, huh?" Bradley said with a shake of his head and a snicker.

"Well I didn't say it was totally bad. But please promise you'll tell me what you're working on soon, okay?" Mom said, almost pleadingly. She looked genuinely concerned, knowing Bradley's habit of secret-keeping.

"Well how about you come with me then? I'm sure Plotz'll understand." Bradley offered with a little smile.

Mom thought about it a moment, then nods. "Sure, sounds good to me."

"And we can come too!" The Warners said suddenly, popping out behind Mom before hopping down to the ground, landing effortlessly.

"Come on, the ground's fine!" Wakko said as he waved the two humans down. None of them looked tired in the slightest, like they've been awake the whole time.

Bradley and Mom looked at each other, the teen raising his eyebrow. "Toon logic?" Mom said.

"I know not to question that by now." Bradley said with another laugh, sliding down the ladder with Mom following closely, heading over to the admin building together.

 _At the admin building_

When the five of them walked in, they saw Rick and Stan asleep in makeshift beds and blankets, which was for the best despite them having to go back to the human world soon before their own parents got worried. The Warners were about to scare them awake cause they thought everyone should be by now, but Bradley stopped them so that they wouldn't make a scene, at least for now.

"Ah, there you are!" Plotz said, then noticed Bradley's mom. He was about to say something, but the human teen spoke up before that happened.

"I thought she deserved to know what was going on too. So do my friends back there." Bradley said in regards to the sleeping humans, the Warners about to don scary masks and scare them like what "Courage the Cowardly Dog" do, but put them away and smiled immediately after, having halos on their heads.

Plotz scowled a little, but understood. "Fine, fine. Regardless, that clothing you brought in had some interesting stuff to show. Come on over." the CEO said, waving the humans over before turning to see the Warners laying on his desk with smiles, making Plotz jump in surprise. "Get down from there!"

"You'd think someone would come up with 'get up from there' by now too." Yakko said to his siblings before Bradley called them back over. The Warners got off of the desk and hopped over to him.

"Well they haven't lost their charm, haven't they?" Bradley's mom said.

"Nope, got mine here!" Wakko said as he got a horseshoe out from his sweater.

"Guuuh... After so long, they haven't tired of doing that..." Plotz mumbled to himself. "Must I keep enduring this forever?"

"What? Speak up, we need a quote for our podcast!" Dot said as she held up a megaphone, shoving it into Plotz's mouth.

"I SAID STOP IT!" Plotz shouted into the megaphone, making Rick and Stan jolt awake as well. Stan ended up falling onto the floor, shaking his head and groaning.

Bradley groaned and winced from the noise as well, having covered his ears. "Jeez... Alright, let the man talk before we wake up half the lot." The human said to the Warners, bringing them back to his side. "What did you want to talk about?"

"That piece of suit your friends brought back?" Plotz started. "Turns out, it's not made of your human cloth."

Rick and Stan got up and walked over, rubbing their heads from that loud noise before. "I really don't want that as my alarm clock..." Stan groaned while the others talked.

Bradley was too focused on what Plotz was talking about. "Really? What's it made of then?" The human teen asked.

"Well, look at the piece." The CEO said. Bradley looked down at it and saw... almost nothing. Nothing but an ink blot, which had the same dark-blue color as the suit.

"Wait, you mean this stuff's made of ink? Just like every other toon here?" Bradley said with a bit of surprise.

Plotz nodded in response. "Convincing, isn't it? At least until a bit of paint thinner gets splashed on it."

The Warners got a closer look as well. "Hmm, a little, but it ain't no Comic-Con quality." Yakko said upon examining it too.

"So basically every suit guy is a toon or something?" Bradley guessed, with shrugs from the others in response. "Toons kidnapping other toons, something's off about that." He added as he crossed his arms.

"That's not to say the leader is either a toon too or a human." Plotz explained. "But the town's getting panicked and are thinking the humans are doing it.

"Well they ARE pretty convincing, probably wearing masks too." Rick assumed.

"Panicked? How bad is it?" Bradley wondered.

"TV time!" Wakko said happily, swiping the remote from Plotz who was about to turn the television on too. It tuned to a news channel that was showing some "breaking news".

"As more and more toon-nappings are happening, less and less humans having been visiting due to other toons not being able to trust the humans anymore, and as such aren't letting many in anymore." Said a dog toon holding a microphone. "As the town continues getting emptier with nothing getting closer to the ringleader of the whole thing, panic continues to grow despite the toon-nappings having slowed down."

Soon the TV changed to static. "I don't like that channel." Wakko admitted.

"Turn it back!" Plotz said urgently and loudly, with Bradley swiping the remote away and doing changing the channel back. There was nothing else new after that.

"Little bleak, don't you think?" Rick said. "We did get something new."

"Yeah, but nothing closer to who's behind this." Bradley said.

The Warners all donned trenchcoats, looking through some notepads. "Ahh, the mystery deepens, my friends." Yakko said in a French accent. "The clues, they lead everywhere, but not to who we really want."

"Well hopefully we can at least find _where_ they are." Bradley said with a soft sigh.

 _At an unknown place_

"That'll be all." Said a slightly low male voice after getting an explanation from one of the suits, soon leaving. The creature was thinking something over, leaving the room he was in and walking down a hall. As he walked, he dripped ink on the floor, leaving a trail of droplets as he looked into some of the rooms. some had other suits on break, some had the caged toons from before.

"Hm..." He hummed to himself, thinking some more as he entered another room, looking out a window towards Toontown. Soon a suit came in, knocking on the door which made the creature jump a little, then sigh. "Don't do that."

"Sorry sir." The suit said, almost about to leave.

"Listen..." He mumbled, loud enough for the suit to listen and not move.

"Yes?" The suit said curiously.

"All these toons we're taking... Do you think they'll remember them as time goes by?" He asked softly. "Do you think that they'll still be engrained in their memories? Their looks, names, jokes? Shows even?"

"I don't know, sir." The suit said.

"No one does, don't be ashamed." The creature said, placing a hand on the window. "It's times like these where I... Question whether or not this is the right way to prove that point." He said, pulling his hand away from the window, leaving an inky handprint. "It's been a very long time, I'm honestly glad you all are here to keep me company. It gets very lonely after all." He added, slowly turning around and walking over to the suit.

"Tell me..." The creature said, looking at the suit with his face half-revealed in the light, the hair on his head resembling horns a little too. "Would you remember this face?"

The suit nodded. "I would, sir."

The inky toon cracks a light, toothy smile. "Thank you. That's all I need to hear." He said, straightening his bow-tie before passing by the suit and leaving the room, but stopping a second later. "I wish I could've heard those words years ago." He added. "Regardless, hold off on capturing more toons, the more they panic, the harder for us to do our job and to play our little games with who we have."

"Yes sir." The suit said with another nod.

The creature nodded, heading back down the hall, glancing at the toons in the cages.

"Who even are you?" One of them said, making him stop in his tracks, turning his head to meet the captured toon's gaze.

He cracks another toothy grin, face half-hidden once more in the light. "That's what they all ask. You all lost your chance to know me years ago." He said before walking away with a little laugh.

 _Back at the admin building_

"So is there nothing else to go by?" Bradley asked. "Nothing else found or something like that?"

Stan shook his head. "Nope. Dang spray, why'd he have to take that out..." He grumbled.

Rick shook his head as well. "Yeah, that's all we found. I know it ain't much, but it's still something, right?"

"Agreed, it could've gone far worse. What would your parents think if they saw you like this?" Bradley's mom said to the other two humans with concern, even sounding a little upset. "Do they even know you're here?"

"They're friends with each other so my mom got his a ticket to see some concert with a band they missed seeing play." Stan said, pointing to Rick as he explained. "So they got a hotel and they'd be back around noon or so."

"Mm-hmm..." Bradley mumbled to himself. "So we can get you back home before they get back so they don't end up worrying."

"Unless it's like 'Home Alone' and they left ya by accident." Yakko said with a shrug.

"I really doubt they'd do that." Bradley said with crossed arms. "Anyways, if that's all, we really need to crack down on this..." He added with a soft mumbling tone to himself. They were getting pieces and bits, but this puzzle was still almost impossible to guess as to who is behind all of it.

"We'll handle that now that you brought us these new clues. I think the best thing to do is go back to your normal lives." Plotz said.

The Warners leaned in close to the CEO with smirks. "Nooooooormal you say?" Yakko said with a smug expression, the CEO grumbling and taking a step back. The Warners countered with a step towards him as well to cover the same distance.

Bradley was about to say something in response, but thought it seemed fair. He couldn't do everything on his own, he had to let the toons do their part too cause it involved them. So he nods with a soft smile. "Right, gotchya."

Rick and Stan sighed softly and nod too. "Yeah, I need a break, my head's still foggy from that." Stan mumbled.

"And we got a test to study for too." Rick added.

The toony siblings nearby groaned. "Do we gotta?" They said in unison.

"We can use our 'Get Out of Test Free' cards for this, right?" Wakko said as he brought out a deck of cards that say exactly that.

Bradley rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No, I don't think they'd take that."

"Oh you'd be surprised, you should've been here when Ms. Flamiel was still teaching us." Yakko said, leaning with an elbow on Bradley's side like he was a wall.

"She even gave them back so we can use them again, that's so nice of her." Wakko said with his goofy smile.

"You sure it's cause she didn't wanna see you three again?" Bradley wondered out loud.

"Hmm..." The three Warners hummed in unison. "Nah!"

 _One week later, 3 PM_

While the toons were doing their work in their world, the humans went on with their own lives at school and such. Bradley had just left school with the Warners bouncing around him as Rick and Stan left after a little talk, walking down and realizing Mom wasn't there yet. A little odd to say the least, but he did remember her saying she had something to do in Toontown before so she'd be a little while, trusting him to walk back. He did see a familiar girl on the way down though, recognizing that it was Shannon, walking over to her. "Hey there!" He said with a bright tone.

"Oh, Bradley! Hey, how's things?" Shannon asked.

"Oh, umm... They're doing fine, just been watching over these three here." Bradley said as he points out the three Warners now standing on his head.

"Now who's over who?" Yakko said as they formed their tower on top of the human teen.

Shannon giggled lightly. "Good point. Did you wanna walk a little before we head home?" She offered.

Bradley thought a little, the Warners having hopped off his head and Yakko giving him a little nudge. "Oof! Well, sure!" He said a bit nervously.

"And we'll watch and see if this doesn't crash and burn!" Dot said eagerly.

"Don't worry, we'll give ya lots of tips to help not make this as awkward as 'the Wonder Years'!" Yakko said in an encouraging voice. Bradley knew they meant well, but he just hoped they wouldn't be too in the way. Especially after their chanting before about the whole "girlfriend" thing.

"Mm-hmm, sure..." Bradley said with a little snicker. "Anyways, let's go." He said as they started walking.

"So what's your story with these three?" Shannon asked as they walked down the sidewalk. "I don't think I heard you explain them before."

Yakko immediately inserted himself between them, arms around their sides and tugging them in extra close. "Well it's a very interesting story, with lots of twists, turns and exciting moments of discovery! Do you want that version or the Cliffnotes one instead?" The older toon asked, with Wakko hopping on Yakko's shoulders and holding up a folder with lots of papers in it.

"I..." Shannon started, thinking. "Maybe the short version first." She answered some seconds later.

Bradley smiled in understanding. "Alright then. It was about 3 years ago. Rick and Stan, my friends you see me with?" He started. Shannon nodded in response. "They used to be my bullies in elementary school."

"A poor, lost boy! Oh the humiliation!" Yakko feigned sadness at that part, posing and sniffling as he put on his show.

"The terrible torments he went through, t'was a shame to witness!" Dot added in a British accent, hand on her face in a fainting pose, adding to the spectacle while Wakko played a slow, sad tune on a violin he brought out.

Shannon snickered a little. "That bad huh?"

Bradley shook his head. "Well, not THAT bad, but it was a little, you know..." He trailed off a little, but soon resumed after shaking his head. "So they came up to me one day and told me they were daring me to find Toontown or else they'd prank me on the first day of school, cause I kept talking about it to them and they ended up spreading all those rumors that I was like some weirdo." He said as the five of them continued to walk down the sidewalk, not really sure where her house was if was to be honest.

"From the looks of things you did a good job in finding it then." Shannon said with a smirk.

"Ohhhhh, you have no idea." Yakko said. "You should've seen his face!"

Bradley nods in agreement. "Yeah, what followed was one of the best weeks I've ever had with these three, from visiting all over the town to even saving their lives. Yeah they were annoying, still are..." The human said, looking back at the Warners, smiling innocently.

"What can we say, we got paid for it." Dot said with a shrug.

"I know I'd enjoy myself at other peoples expense for a big stack of cash like any ol' toon." Yakko added. "Wakko spent all of his on Hershey bars and jawbreakers." Wakko responded with a little chuckle, popping a jawbreaker in his mouth. He chomped on it and ended up cracking the candy in half instead with a big crunching sound.

"Pfft, of course." Bradley said as he smiled and shook his head, resuming his talk with Shannon. "But they were my first friends, and I'm not sure I could ever let them go, you know?" He added, frowning a bit.

"So they're like part of your family, huh?" Shannon asked.

Yakko looked extra close to Bradley's face, humming. "Hmmmm... Nah, I can't see the resemblence." He concluded as he pulled away.

"Well, in an adopted way, you can say that." Bradley joked. "I don't see myself looking like them anytime soon. Except maybe for next Halloween." He added with a shrug, with the Warners snickering, then getting out notepads to make plans for that.

"Hm. Either way, you must be like some hotshot Toontown hero there from what you did there, huh?" Shannon asked.

"Heh, I still got the headlines taped on my side of the Water Tower." Bradley said with a little smile. "But you know, it didn't happen right away. It took a long time to make this a normal thing, having toons and humans in each others' worlds and stuff. They're still a little uneasy, especially with the sort of stuff that's been going on lately." He added with a frown again, that toonnapping business still in the back of his head.

"Yeah? I hope that gets all fixed soon." Shannon said with a little worry at hearing that.

"No kidding." Bradley said with a soft sigh.

"Don't worry, whenever toons like us are in need, you can always count on our ol' pal here to fix them back up!" Yakko said, hopping on Bradley's shoulders and making the human grunt a bit.

"He's like the 'Bob the Builder' of our place!" Dot added, adding to the tower.

"And he's just a good sport too!" Wakko added, getting on the tower's top.

Bradley struggled a little, but managed to keep the tower up, chuckling a little. "Most of the time." He reminded them, remembering the occasional outbursts he has with them every so often. "Hmm... Have you ever visited Toontown yourself?" He asked Shannon.

"Not really, I was thinking about it for a while though." The girl said.

"Hm... Then how about a little trip before bringing you back to your home?" Bradley offered.

"Yeah, we'll even give you the grand tour!" Yakko said happily, boinging in front of them and walking backwards, the other sibs joining him. "First time we gave this kid the tour, he was screaming all cause we ended up going into space!"

Bradley laughed a little and rubbed the back of his head. "I know, I know."

 _3:30 PM_

After some more talking, they ended up reaching the original Toontown tunnel. "Welp, here we are!" Bradley said proudly.

Shannon looked over the tunnel, now looking fully cleaned up and refreshed as opposed to crumbling before. "Ooh, now that looks pretty. Is that Felix the Cat?" She asked, pointing up at the cats on the top of the archway. "I remember seeing his face around in a couple of places."

"Yup! You ready to head in to see it?" Bradley asked, sounding more happy.

Shanno nodded softly, fixing her hair. "Mm-hmm, as ready as I'll ever be."

The Warners went back in front of them, holding trumpets. "Don't worry, we'll keep the path clear." Wakko promised them, soon matching and playing along with Dot, with Yakko as the composer walking and waving his baton. "Watch out, hero and his girl comin' through!" The older toon shouted into the tunnel. Bradley looked to Shannon and shrugged, both of them following the toons in.

 _In the Warner Movie Lot_

As the marching group plus two walked through the tunnel, they ended exactly where they expected to, a fresh breeze welcoming them into the toon world. Shannon looked around the movie lot, with things definitely looking different and more inky than in real life. Some toony actors were walking around, some had equipment that they were stuffing in a tiny bag and carrying like it was nothing, and others were just having fun with pranking each other with pies and other such foods and tools.

"Oooooh, now this is pretty cool..." Shannon said to herself all wide-eyed.

"Taking it a lot better than you did." Yakko whispered to Bradley. The boy rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Anyways, looks cool, doesn't it?" Bradley said to Shannon with a happy tone.

The girl nods eagerly, taking in the sights of the lot as well as looking at the town in the distance. "For sure! I bet the town has even more!" She added as she started running across the lot.

Bradley chuckles a bit at her excitement. "Hey come on, wait up!" He called out, following her, the Warners close behind.

"Yeah, we're the ones that are the tour guides here!" Wakko said, waving his hand.

The two humans kept running off while the Warners managed to catch up, showing Shannon some of the actors, like a toon Morgan Freeman narrating for a commercial for SPAM, and Dot pestering them to follow her to Chris Pratt for an autograph in one of the soundstages. But before they could really get into the tour, they saw Bradley's mother talking to Plotz outside the admin building about something.

The Warners immediately noticed and so did Bradley, ending up pulling the siblings back before they charged. "No no no no no, they're busy." The human said a bit urgently. The two of the looked done talking anyway, with Mom turning to see the kids and waving at them as Plotz left in a run He must've gotten a really important call. "Oh hey Bradley!" Mom said with a happier tone. "So how was school?"

"Oh it went good, thought I'd bring my friend over to see Toontown, it's her first time here." Bradley said.

Shannon nodded. "Yeah, it's looks so cool that everything's all drawn like this!"

Bradley looked happy to hear that, looking back to Mom. "So what were you and Plotz talking about?" He asked curiously.

The Warners immediately took turns guessing. "Is it a surprise party for us?" Yakko said excitedly.

"Sure we already had 23, but one more doesn't hurt!" Wakko added.

"Are there lots of presents for me?" Dot said with a bright smile. "I specifically wanted in the cuteness clause that Dot Warner gets the most presents of anyone here!" She added as she whipped out a contract and an electron microscope, the extra fine print clarifying that. "See? Right by the mustard stain!"

Mom shook her head and pushed away from them. "No, not a party. Just something really important that was brought up. That's why I asked if you could walk home this time."

"Where is your home anyway?" Shannon asked Bradley, looking around.

Bradley turned around and answered with a smile and a finger pointing up to where the water tower was. "Up there with my three friends." He said as he turned back to talk to Mom.

"Up there in that small thing?" Shannon wondered out loud, not really believing that.

"Trust us kid, it's a LOT bigger on the inside." Yakko assured the girl.

"We got a roller coaster and a TV and everything in there!" Dot added. "It's what all the critics are calling 'too crazy to stay at'!" She said as she brought out a magazine with the tower on the front cover, titled "most annoying places to be".

"We brought our A game to get that front cover, our prize was a restraining order!" Wakko said as he acted happy about that.

Bradley smirked a bit as the four of them talked, resuming his conversation with his mother. "Did you wanna tell us what that important thing is?" He asked curiously.

Mom suddenly looked a touch nervous. "The CEO said it was supposed to be a secret. But he had something to say to your friends too." She tried to explain, meaning Rick and Stan.

"Uh-huh? And that's it?" Bradley said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I can keep my own secrets too, you know." Mom said with crossed arms. "Lord knows you've had plenty of your own."

Braldey let out a little "mm-hmm", almost smug-like. "I'll let Stan and Rick know ASAP." He assured Mom with a nod. It still sounded a little suspicious that it was Mom this time not telling him anything. Oh well, fair was fair.

"A sap you say?" Yakko said as he heard the word. "We can definitely find us a poor sap to have fun with." He added, ruffling Bradley's hair before hopping away.

Bradley shook his head. "Nah, not this time. I was thinking we'd drive Shanno around so she can see Toontown." He offered, looking over to their guest.

"You'd really do that?" Shannon said with a brighter expression. "That'd be awesome!"

"Sure! With a normal tour this time." Bradley said, then turning to the Warners. "No UFO space tricks, okay?"

"Our saucer got trashed anyway. Marvin wasn't really happy." Yakko said with a shrug. "It was run seeing Ralph ending up rolling away though!" He added with a smirk, the other two agreeing with nods of their own as they pumped up thought bubbles from their heads with tire pumps so the others can see it.

"Then ol' Wakko wanted to drive, and ended up seeing a clown." Dot said as the thought bubble played exactly that, with thought Wakko's scream ending up being a trumpet blare. He panicked and bounced the UFO across every soundstage, hitting the clown each time with bonks and bashes with stars coming out, soon knocking him out with a dazed "froinlaven".

"Good thing Plotzy called us over when he saw us though!" Wakko said with a bright smile as the thought played out Plotz yelling, drawing over the Warners and crashing the saucer into the admin building, leaving both damaged extensively. "And that we had air bags too."

Shannon looked a bit concerned now as the thought bubble was popped by Dot bringing out a pin. "Hopefully someone else knows how to drive then?" She said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Mom knows how." Bradley said with an assuring smile.

"I should, had my license for about 20 years." Mom said with a laugh.

With the tour planned out, all of them got into the minivan, with Bradley in the front seat, Shannon and Yakko in the middle, and Wakko and Dot in the back. "We all ready?" Bradley said to the rest of them, who nodded eagerly. Shannon even got out her phone for pictures.

However, Yakko wasn't in his seat, and the van's sunroof was open. Bradley looked out the window as the van started, seeing the older sibling in a chair, sitting down on top of the vehicle with sunglasses with a banner hung up that said "TOUR" on it. "Let's get this box of bolts rollin'!" Yakko shouted excitedly.

Bradley shook his head with a smirk. "You heard the brother, let's go!" He said to Mom, soon rolling out to start their tour for his friend.

* * *

 _Author's Note: More writer's blocks are so much fun. I think I should be picking up the pace soon for the next one._


	7. Chasing a Breakthrough

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _In Toontown, 4 PM_

"And over to your left, we see our movie theater, showing all the classics from Bugs to Felix to the good ol' mouse himself!" Yakko said with a megaphone, still on top of the van with a megaphone, with Wakko and Dot having joined him. Shannon rolled down the window and looked out at the theater and the surrounding buildings.

"What're they playing in there?" Shannon asked the toons on the top of the van.

"Probably something angsty, or Shrek 4-D." Yakko said without the megaphone.

"They definitely have good food there!" Wakko said with a happy tone, rubbing his belly as he brought out a big jumbo chocolate bar from behind him. "They even let me have their biggest bar!" He added as he took a cute bite out of it.

"But the critics there have the worst taste." Dot huffed.

"I did hear good things about 'Montana Joe and the Last Croissant' however." Yakko added with a slight pompous accent.

Bradley meanwhile smiled and was happy Shannon was enjoying herself, having gotten to see some other places before the theater, like a sports arena where they played something called the "Gag Games", where the funniest set ups and jokes would win. The Warners showed off some of their trophies when they passed it too, some of them gag gifts themselves such as one wobbling around like rubber, another that opened with fake springs inside and so on.

There were a few other toons that were outside as well, such Daffy running from Elmer, Woody Woodpecker flying above them, and Pinky and the Brain carrying what looked like a makeshift remote, being chased by a hungry Tom the cat.

Bradley's mother that was driving of course had to be extra careful of the toon vehicles that went by past her at such a high speed, but thankfully the "TOUR" banner over the van helped somewhat with helping them move. But it didn't stop their speed though, making Mom jump a bit in her seat whenever one of them sped past her.

"Heh, nervous?" Bradley said to Mom, almost jokingly.

"Just a little, I don't think I'll ever get used to driving with other toon-ish cars like this." Mom said with a little sigh.

Bradley understood, thinking more to himself as their tour with Shannon continued. Meanwhile, more thoughts built up in his head. What was that secret thing Mom didn't want to tell him? Did it have anything to do with whoever was capturing the toons?

"Shouldn't there be more toons than this outside though?" Shannon said.

"Hey yeah, good point. Where's the others?" Bradley said as he looked out his front seat window, curious and concerned. Other than the occasional famous toon, there's hardly been any others, even new ones. Not exactly deserted hence the cars and still a good amount of toons, but not as much as the town is used to having. "They're not getting worried about what's been happening, are they?" He mumbled to himself.

"Well that depends." Yakko said as he peeked in through the open window upside down.

"Depends on what?" Bradley asked.

"I dunno, you tell me. Always expecting me to have all the answers." Yakko joked with a "hmph".

Bradley kept looking outside, as if on the lookout for anything more suspicious. After a couple minutes of continued driving through town, he saw something off in front of them. It looked like a van and there were three figures holding a bag and dragging it. Before he could pay it no mind, he saw a head pop out of the bag. It was a toon! "Stop the van!" Bradley screamed, making Shannon jump in her seat and Mom slam on the brakes. The Warners got confused, with Dot leaning in to see what was going on.

"What just happened?" Shannon said with worry.

"What's the hold up, we got an spa appointment to get to!" Dot said with a frown.

"We? I didn't order the Amy Sedaris DIY special last time we were there!" Yakko said with crossed arms.

The captured toon, which looked like a cat, heard those voices and thought he was being rescued, but the suits saw as well. They pushed the toon down into the bag and tossed it into their van. Bradley got out and tried to get them before the suits got in their own van, which looked a little more realistic than the others, but they already started it and drove off before he could reach them. Bradley immediately sprinted back to his own van. "Follow those suits!" He said urgently, getting his seat belt on.

"Why, what's going on now?" Shannon wondered out loud.

"Ooooh, chase time!" Wakko said happily, getting into his seat in the back of the van along with the others.

"Been a while since we weren't the ones getting chased away from something." Yakko said with a bright grin.

"You're about to see one of the things I do in this town." Bradley said to Shannon with a smile, looking back to Mom. "Hit it!"

Mom revved the engine and sped off in the direction of the other black van. While the chase was going on, other toons sprung and bounced out of the way, both cars screeching down the inky roads as Shannon hung on for dear life in her seat. With each tight turn, the Warners cheered and went "woo hoo!" like it was a roller coaster. They kept in view of the van, but that was all they was doing after a minute of driving. "Come on, we're not getting any closer!" Bradley said worriedly.

"Well, you know what they say." Yakko said as he came up to the front of their van in between the humans. "To catch a toon..." He said as he brought out a remote from a pocket. "Ya gotta perform like one." He added with a smirk, pressing a button. Wakko and Dot heard the beeping and got something out of their pockets, heading back to the top of the van to place those objects on it.

Soon after, Yakko pressed the button again. "Now watch THIS trick!" He said with a smirk, acting like he already had this planned out. In a second, the two devices sparked between each other, and the outside of the van started spinning and transforming from its normal appearance to something more wacky and colorful. Instead of subtle curves, there were more points and slants, with interesting decals on the sides. It was still technically a van, but it no longer looked like something a team of humans would build. Inside and outside, it looked way more like a drawing, stretchier and able to navigate the chaotic roads of Toontown much better than a human car.

Mom was in shock and Bradley's eyes widened, with Shannon looking around in awe. "Whooooa, how'd you do that?!" She said with a surprised tone.

"Yeah, I didn't know you could do that! How'd you get those anyway?" Bradley added, just as shocked. Mom was just speechless and lost that her van was now this inked, more obnoxiously designed contraption.

"We'd tell ya, but that's a secret!" Dot teased. "We weren't even supposed to show ya this yet."

"But you know us, we love the new toys we get!" Wakko said with a happy tone, excited that his "new toy" worked exactly like it should've.

Bradley felt a bit uneasy that once again he didn't know about this secret, but put his mind out of it. "Is it enough to catch up to that van?"

Yakko chuckled a bit. "Is it enough..." He mumbled with a smile, then leaned back to his siblings. "Is it?" The two of them shrugged.

"Only one way to see!" Bradley said, looking to Mom and nodding as she slammed on the accelerator.

"But it's got tunes too!" Dot said as she leaned in and turned on the "William Tell Overture" on the radio.

Bradley just chuckled at that, watching as they got closer. That was well and good, but how were they going to stop that black van and the toon that was inside? He thought a moment and used his phone to put in a call with the Toontown police.

Shannon meanwhile was trying to hold on while they were going so fast, feeling and seeing the van twist and turn and bend with each movement. "Wahh! Gaah, jeez!" She screamed out, now more fearful. "I'm not gonna fly out of this thing, am I?!"

"Don't worry, you're fine!" Yakko said to the girl. "Just don't tell it to fling you out."

"What?! It can do that?!" Shannon shouted.

"Yakko, stop stressing her out!" Bradley said, having finished the call. Backup was thankfully on the way, but he still had to get the captured toon out of there. He then got an idea. "You got a grappling hook in here?" He said to the Warners.

"Now that I know we have." Yakko said with assurance, with Wakko and Dot getting the former's gaggy bag out, rifling through. Mom did her best to stay behind the black van despite its efforts of trying to lose them. It took a little getting used to, but Mom settled in and kept going. After bringing out a stack of fine china, a golden mallet, a giant fish and Yakko's book of autographs(which he promptly took back), they found the grappling hook they were looking for.

"Now what're you doing?" Mom said as Bradley rolled down the window.

"I'm gonna grapple to the other van and get that toon out of there, should be easy, right?" Bradley said as the Warners went back up to the top of the van through the sunroof.

"What?! Can't you wait for those toon cops?" Mom shouted.

"We could, but have you seen cops nowadays?" Yakko said as he peeked in upside down at the driver's seat window.

Wakko and Dot grabbed Bradley's hands and helped him up to the top of the van as well. "You're all crazy!" Shannon shouted as she saw what was happening.

"And that's why we get paid to do what we do." Dot said to her with an innocent smile, like it was just another day in a toon's life.

Bradley and the other three siblings held onto the grappling hook and Mom groaned at her son risking himself like this. But she kept the car steady as best she can as they threw it, the hook swinging and locking around the top of the other van. THAT was what got the suits' attention, looking back and seeing that van, now all tooned up, still following them. Shannon kept going on tight to her seat. "You better know what you're doing..." She mumbled.

"Hold it steady, okay?" Bradley said to the Warner sibs. They nodded in response.

"Don't worry, we left our Butterfingers at home." Yakko assured him.

Wakko frowned at that, mainly due to there being no snacks to eat. Bradley looked back to the black van in front of them, then looked down at the speeding ground below them. Each turn and twist down the streets made him shiver and hold onto the van he was standing on. "Ohhh, jeez..." He mumbled to himself, but steeled up and gripped the rope. Keeping his legs up, he started to cross the gap between the vans, keeping his grip as strong as he was able.

The Warners cheered him on like it was a game of Ninja Warrior, the teen continuing until he finally got to the other van. The suits started swerving more, trying to shake Bradley off, making him cling onto the top of it. He winced and kept holding on until he saw one of the suits climb out and move towards him, sleep spray can in hand and pointed at him. Bradley remembered he had pocketed some of their cans in his hammer-space jeans before, bringing one out. "Don't try it bud, I got one too!" He said as a threat.

The suit didn't seem deterred. Bradley ducked and held his breath as the suit sprayed first, poking his head back up and spraying back with his own can. It worked right away, sending the suit right to dreamland. The teen pushed the suit back into the van, laying in the back seat as Bradley opened the rear window once he pocketed his own sleep spray can. There was the bag, rustling alongside another 2 rustling bags. "Jeez, they must've been busy..." He mumbled to himself. He opened one of the bags and saw the trapped toon. "It's alright, I'm gonna get you out." He said in a quieter tone.

The suit in the driver's seat growled and turned that steering wheel hard back and forth. Bradley held on tight to the van with a "WHOA!" while the captured toon whimpered in fear of being shaken around. The human turned around to the Warners. "Alright now, pull! Pull!" He shouted to them.

"Way ahead of ya!" Yakko said, with Wakko having pulled out a rather big fishing line. All three held onto it as they started reeling the van in. "We got us a big one, we're eatin' good tonight!" The older sibling said with a southern accent and happy tone, all three trying their hardest to reel that vehicle in closer.

Meanwhile, Bradley helped the captured cat toon out of the bag, undoing the binds. "Alright, you're gonna have to trust me on this, okay?" He told the scared toon, who nodded as he was placed on the bumper on the van. "One, two, three... Jump!" He said when their own van was close enough, the toon leaping as a little door opened on the front of the van and popped out a baseball catcher's mitt.

Shannon meanwhile couldn't help but watch on, looking impressed at this rescue attempt. "Does he do this all the time?" He asked Bradley's mother.

"I honestly hope he doesn't." Mom said with a frown. "I got enough problems with keeping him safe."

The Warners cheered at the catch, with Bradley going back to the other two bags. He didn't know what was in them, they could be toons or traps in there. He holds his breath just in case, opens one of the bags and there was another toon. Looks like this one, a red-furred dog, was already knocked out by the sleep spray. "Okay now, easy does it..." He mumbled to himself, holding on with one hand as he tried lifting the bag with the other. The swerving didn't help either, but thankfully the Warners kept reeling in the van closer. He tossed the toon into the big mitt to join the other one.

"Two down!" Bradley said as he switched hands to hold on better, seeing the last bag. He wasn't sure if this was a trap, but he wasn't gonna find out because the suit driving had enough. He put the van in a cruise control mode and locked the steering wheel, leaving him free to head to the back and start pulling on the bag as well. "Come on, let go!" The teen shouted, grunting as he tried to pull the bag away. The exchange kept going for another couple of seconds with Bradley unwilling to let go. This was a stalemate, this wasn't going anywhere.

Then he had one more idea. He grunts with effort as he held on, moving his fingers to tug open the string. The suit flew back and fell as the bag opened up, the last toon falling out, which was actually a Looney Tune, the black cat Sylvester. He looked asleep too, likely more sleep spray. The suit groaned and was getting up while Bradley scooped the cat up in his arm. He then saw straight ahead there was a line of Toontown cops they were barreling towards.

"Heh, this is our stop!" Bradley said with a smirk, unhooking the grappling hook from the black van and jumping into the catcher's mitt, joining the other two rescued toons. The sunroof opened and the mitt deposited all them inside, making Shannon yelp in surprise.

"Well, welcome aboard the crazy tour van..." Shannon said, still trying to calm down and keep under control. But that was still difficult as Mom put on the brakes and the van screeched to a halt.

The suit groaned and looked at what he was driving towards, the line of toon officers with a ramp going 90 degrees up. He tried frantically to unlock the steering wheel, but it was too late, his van launched up into the air, leaving him screaming and his friend looking like he was flying. They plunged downward and were about to land on a trampoline, bouncing back up and continuing to bounce on several more in a line before landing in a huge plate of gelatin, trapping the van and suits inside.

The Warners let out happy cheers at that bit of excitement. "Now that was fun!" Yakko said happily.

"Next time we should get a picture!" Wakko added with just as much excitement.

"It's always fun to remember your first catch." Dot said with a little sigh of content.

"And what a whopper it was!" Wakko responded eagerly.

While the Warners talked among themselves, Bradley exited the van and helped Shannon leave too. She couldn't be happier to leave that machine as she just laid on the ground. "Never again..." She mumbled, her head feeling like it was spinning.

"Oof... Not the best reaction we got." Dot said in response to seeing the human girl collapse like that.

"Could be worse though, could've melted into goop like SpongeBob." Yakko responded.

Soon the two suits were in the ol' paddy wagon, the cops thanking Bradley for the call. They even offered to let them follow them to the police station.

"They're connected to this thing, I'm sure of it. We'll head there." Bradley said with a nod as he walked back to their van. He helped Shannon up, the girl looking dazed.

"Is everything not spinning anymore..." Shannon mumbled. "I want my money back for that tour..."

"It's alright, you didn't pay for anything. Come on, we're heading somewhere a bit more calm." Bradley assured her, leading her to her seat and strapping the seat belt in. "Can we turn this back to a normal van now?" He asked the Warners.

"Well let's see!" Yakko said as he got the remote and pressed the button, the transformation reversing itself and changing the van back to a human one. Wakko and Dot plucked the devices off the van as well.

"You gonna tell me what those things were now?" Bradley asked. "The things you put on the van to turn it toony?"

"We cooooooould..." Dot said.

"But we kinda weren't supposed to show them yet anyway." Yakko added.

"It was a lot of fun to try it out though!" Wakko said eagerly. The rescued cat toon that wasn't sleeping still looked frightened at the whole ordeal.

Bradley lightly pet their head a little. "You'll be alright now, I promise." He assured the toon with a softer and more caring tone, lightly sighing and getting back into his seat. "Let's see what they got to say then." He added, with Mom following the last toon officer to the station.

 _4:30 PM_

As they all arrived, the rescued toons were taken somewhere else safe and the rest of them saw the suits, awake and sleeping, in different rooms. "So, what to do with these two..." The human mumbled to himself.

One of the toon officers, tall and looking like a panther, walked up. "Heh, you wanna try first?" He asked the teen.

Bradley shrugged a little. "Might as well, got me some secret weapons." He said with a smirk, looking over to the Warner siblings, to which Wakko was messing with one of the stamps that took your fingerprints.

"Hey, I can't see mine!" Wakko exclaimed.

"Hey, he's your brother." Yakko and Dot said to each other in unison. Bradley just chuckled and brought Wakko over to the rest of them.

"I think it's time for our good cop, annoying cop routine on these guys." Bradley said with a devious little smirk.

The siblings expressions lit up at that idea. "Ooh, which one are we?" Wakko asked.

"Don't you know, we're the ones that hang out at the catering table and read 'Doughnuts of the Month'." Yakko answered as a joke.

Bradley just rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Come on you three." He said as he headed to the room with the suit that was still awake. "Alright Bradley, think..." He thought to himself. "You know the questions, just gotta get him to spill, that's all. how hard could it be?"

Once they were inside, the suit looked over to them and frowned. "Ahh of course, the one he warned us about..." He mumbled.

"Who's this 'he'? Who's telling you to kidnap these toons?" Bradley asked.

"Hmph, like either of us tell you." The suit said, defiant.

"Well, one of you can't cause they're asleep." Bradley said with a little chuckle, crossing his arms. "But if you don't tell us what we need to know, I do have a surefire way to get you to talk." He said with a smirk.

"What can a human possibly do..." The suit said with a grumble.

"Oh... I'M not gonna do a thing. Not one little thing." Bradley said with a smile, an idea forming as he spoke. "Of course, my friends here can't promise that." He added, looking over to the Warners who waved like nothing was going on. But they did catch on to what he was planning.

"And what are your friends gonna do?" The suit said.

Bradley just chuckled, playing it up. "I understand, you can only get away with not knowing once." He said as he paced around, the others watching from outside the two-way mirror. "But if you knew, you'd probably tell right away to spare the annoyance. So I'm gonna give you one chance." He added, leaning in close. "Either tell us, or I'll let you see for yourself."

The suit wouldn't budge, staying silent. Bradley waited about 5 seconds for something, but seeing as how he wasn't gonna talk, he shrugged. "Hm... Alright, you gave your answer there. I warned ya." He said with a little smug smile. "Earmuffs please." He said to Wakko, who pulled a pair out from his hat. The human took them and put them on his head, covering his ears. "Rev up your vocal cords, it's time to give this guy what he deserves." Bradley said, almost in a sinister tone.

The Warners knew that was coming, but that didn't stop them from getting excited for it. The toon officers outside looked worried at seeing Bradley basically take the Warners off the leash. But the human had a little idea to minimize the damage. "Why don't you give this guy a taste of your songs? Like 'Million Shiny Statues'?" Bradley suggested, remembering a moment from one of their video games. "The Great Edgar Hunt".

"Ooh, good idea! Radio edit or 12-inch version?" Dot asked, holding up two CDs with either version on it.

"Hm..." Bradley looked between Dot and the suit that was unable to do anything, taking off the earmuffs for a moment. "Let's give him the 12-inch version to be safe." He said with a smirk.

With that, the Warner sibs set up some speakers from Wakko's gaggy bag and a CD player, humming as they pointed the speakers right at the suit.

"And what are these three gonna do?" The suit said, scowling.

"Oh, just sing you a little song." Bradley said with a shrug and smile.

Yakko pressed "play" and a beat started playing, then a piano right after before the song started playing with all three singing in unison.

 _"A million shiny statues sitting on a wall_

 _A million shiny statues sitting on a wall_

 _And if one shiny statue should accidentally fall_

 _There'd be 999,999 shiny statues sitting on a wall!"_

The suit twinged a little from hearing that big a number. "They're not going to... Sing every number, are they?" He said, a little worried.

Bradley smirked and nodded. "Oh, they are. Every single one, and it's only gonna keep progressing."

The suit looked scared for the first time, being subjected to this song while unable to escape. Bradley put his earmuffs back on, smirking and watching, the song almost silent to him, but the suit was gonna get the full brunt of it. Each verse grew louder and soon the Warners in the room joined in with themselves on the CD. They didn't seem like they're getting tired.

 _About 5 minutes later_

The suit couldn't take much more of their singing, feeling like it was never going to end. By _999,960 shiny statues sitting on the wall_ , the suit had essentially given up, pleading for the song to stop. Bradley looked down at the suit, now out of the chair and on his knees. "Please, make them stop singing, please!"

"Are you gonna tell us what we need to know?" Bradley said, loud enough to be heard as he read the suit's actions and lips.

"Yes, yes, now please make them stop singing! I beg you!" The suit shouted, the teen catching a few ink droplets coming off the suit's form.

Bradley nods and claps twice, the Warners brothers and sister stopping the song. "Huh, that's the farthest we've gotten in the full version." Wakko said with a smile, feeling proud.

"Yeah, and look, he's already dripping." Bradley said, kneeling down to eye level with the suit. "Now, tell us, who's the one telling you to kidnap all these toons under this corporate lawyer disguise? Where's the other toons you've taken?"

"They're... They're everywhere in other studios in town..." The suit managed to say. "He just wanted playmates..."

"Who's this 'he'?" Bradley said, growing a bit more urgent.

"He's... He's the devil toon..." The suit said. "He just wants more friends, so many friends... He's been forgotten too long..." He added, just unable to say the name.

"What's the name of the one that's doing this?!" Bradley shouted, growing more annoyed.

"I can't say, I'd rather melt than give everything away to you..." The suit said with a grunt. Looks like he won't say any more.

Bradley debated on trying his luck and cranking the "Shiny Statues" song on full blast to get any more clues out of him, but based on seeing the instability of the ink keeping the suit's form together after just 5 minutes of the Warners' loud singing, he opted against it, sparing him before it turned into torture. It's also likely the sleeping suit, once awake, will give the same exact answers.

Bradley scooped up some ink that was on the ground, leaving the room and holding it out to one of the toon cops watching. "Get this stuff looked at, we gotta find out where these suits are being made." Once the cop took the ink and put it in a container, he went back to mom and Shannon.

"Man Bradley, I didn't know you had that side to you. He looked in pain..." Shannon said worriedly.

"Heh, have you seen their show? They do that to lots of people, but only really mean people." Bradley assured her. "Like toon-napping bad. Besides, I still wouldn't go, you know... THAT far."

Mom agreed with a little nod. "Even though I was a little forced into driving that new car by them. I've never driven anything toon-like in my life." She said with crossed arms.

"Hey, first time for lots of things." Bradley said with a shrug.

"It's always fun teaching old humans new tricks!" Wakko said as the Warners popped in by them. Mom was about to say something thinking he called her old, but knew that was a joke, letting out a little "hmph".

"And it'd make for a really awesome Universal ride too if we ever go there again." Yakko added, unrolling a big sheet of paper with an advertisement for that ride, with the same car and with the same people in it.

Bradley chuckles softly as he looked over the big ad. "We'll pitch it and see what happens." He said in response, rolling the paper back up.

Bradley then thought to himself on what he was told. The words "devil toon", "forgotten" and "friends" kept repeating. What did he mean by those? There weren't any devil-like toons in Toontown at all, at least as far as he's seen in the time he's lived there.

"Ohh, he's thinkin', he's thinkin'!" Yakko said excitedly.

"I wish I knew what that felt like." Wakko said with a soft sigh.

"Hm... I think it's time to visit the cat. Maybe he'll have some kind of help." Bradley said. "Without the help of the van being all toony again please?" He added to the Warners before the suggestion was made. The three of them gave a salute in response. "Good." He said as they left to get back in the van.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Alright, writer's block shattered, now this story can keep on going!_


	8. The Clues Come Together

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _5 PM_

The van was a little more silent than usual, there was still some talking in the back with Shannon asking more questions, but Bradley was the most silent and in thought. He still didn't know who or where this toon is, but they were definitely getting closer. But knowing there were a lot more toons captured, and even scattered everywhere in Toontown, where could they be? He still looked lost despite the new information.

Bradley did break out of that thought though to guide Mom to where the nameless cat lived, to which she looked concerned. "Didn't expect it to be this big?" Mom said.

Bradley shook his head. "A little." He said with a soft sigh. "I'm just worried it's gonna keep getting worse... What if the other toons still think the humans are doing it?" He added.

"I'm sure things'll get cleared up, but it does seem really troubling." Mom said in agreement. "Will your friends still be able to make it here?"

Bradley hadn't thought of that, thinking Toontown would cut off their tunnels or portals to the place, mean Rick and Stan couldn't come in. "Good point, I'll have to tell them."

After a quick call to the both of them, with them saying they'll be there after dinner, they arrived at the cat's house. The Warners bounced and hopped out through the sunroof while the humans left the normal way out the doors. The cat's place was a quaint little house, seemed almost like a normal 1-story human house, but rather tall on the inside. Seems like he still didn't have that big a liking to peppering his home with zany decorations and so on.

"Ahh, just as dull as I remember." Yakko said after a deep breath, smiling with his hands on his hips.

Bradley knocked on the door a few times and the cat answered with a content smile. "Ahh, Bradley! I was wondering when you'd show up for a visit." He said as he pats the teen's shoulder. "And you brought guests too?" He added, looking to the other humans and toons behind him.

"Yeah, we were planning a big party at your place the whole time." Yakko said as he bounced inside.

"We're just the early birds!" Dot added as she bounced in too, with Wakko following right after.

Bradley just chuckled softly, stretching. "Yeah, we found out some stuff I think your smarts can help with."

"Is that so? And who is this?" The cat said upon seeing Shannon.

"Oh, she's Shannon, she's my friend." Bradley said as the girl waved in response.

"I see, tis an honor to meet you, miss Shannon." The feline said, giving a bow.

"Well well, an honor to meet you too, Mr. Cat." Shannon said in response, smiling back as she entered, the mother last to walk in before the door shut.

"So, what would you like to learn about today?" The feline said, brushing his suit while the Warners bounced on the couch. The interior looked almost like a huge library, pulling the "bigger on the inside" approach. Shannon looked very impressed indeed at all the books, looking through a few of them.

"Well, we managed to find something about this toon-napping case, and thought you could have an answer." Bradley said as Shannon and the Warners looked through various books, some fun, other like history books.

"Oh have you? I've found out things of my own, but you go first." The feline said as he sits down in his rather big chair in the livng room.

Bradley then went to tell him everything that happened, such as the car chase and the talking he did with the captured suit. He repeated the words he was told, with the look of the toon and a piece of the revealed plan, as well as seeing that ink drip from the suit's form.

"I see... I've heard of these before somewhere, let me find it." The cat said after a moment of thought, leaping to a nearby ladder and searching through the bookcases.

Bradley looked through some of the other books while the cat was busy. One of them caught the teen's eye that he recognized, one of the more recent history books about Toontown. He brought it out and opened it to a bookmark he put in last time he was here. He read a little through it until he saw the portion where he came into the picture.

Shannon took notice and walked over to see as well, curious. "Is that you?" She asked when she pointed at the picture of younger Bradley with the Warners.

Bradley nodded in response with a soft smile. "Yeah, that's me. 10 years old and I was already gonna be in a book." He said with a little laugh, clearing his throat. "Now puberty's hanging over my shoulder and everything."

Mom softly smiles at hearing them talk, walking over to join them. "Yup, my baby's a hero." She said with a proud tone, ruffling Bradley's hair. "I was really worried for him, but he showed me he can handle those Warner kids just fine."

"Well, mostly." Bradley said with a little laugh, looking up at the Warner siblings trying to find a book for them to read, with Wakko frowning at the lack of picture books and tossing them onto the floor.

"And now you live here with them?" Shannon said, pointing up to the siblings.

Bradley nodded. "Yeah, I'm their caretaker and their friend." He said with a warm smile, getting the caretaker badge from his pants pocket. "Probably need to shine this soon though..."

"You're honestly really sweet for doing that, especially back then..." Shannon said. "But you have to think, is staying with those three friends of yours really worth it in the long run?" She added, a little worried now that she was figuring out what Bradley really does in Toontown.

"What do you mean?" Bradley said. "I know I'm not a toon, I'm not gonna live forever. But I just wanna make sure they're happy for as long as I'm able to."

The Warner siblings hopped down with Wakko carrying a few picture books in his arms. "Yeah, he's been our actual friend for years, we're still just as surprised." Yakko said, getting into the group.

"And he always gives us lots of candy too." Wakko said as he pats his belly.

"Heh, always?" Bradley said with a smile and raised eyebrow.

"Well, maybe 60 percent." Yakko said.

"I was thinking 70." Dot quipped.

"The point is..." Bradley said before he was interrupted. "If I hadn't met these kids, I wouldn't have gotten to make any other friends. Sure I'm famous to the toons, but that's a bonus." He added to Shannon with a little chuckle.

"If ya say so. Still crazy though." Shannon said with a smirk.

"Hey, if you don't know how to be crazy, you ain't living." Bradley responded with a laugh, the Warners giggling as well.

"And not getting paid, that's the important part." Yakko said with a goofy grin.

Soon the suited feline came back with a book of his own, smiling at the group a bit when he noticed what book they had. "Reliving your best moments?" He said to Bradley as he walked over to them.

The human nodded a little. "Just explaining it to Shannon, it's fine." Bradley said with a little smile.

"Well come back to the present, because I may have found what we've been looking for." The cat said. Bradley closed the book he had and set it aside on a table, then the suited feline joined the others, sitting down. Shannon was a bit worried about it getting too crowded, but if no one else minded, she'd try to bear with it.

"What'd ya find?" Bradley asked. The Warners looked very curious too.

"I hope it's a picture book..." Wakko said expectantly.

"Unfortunately no." The cat said, sporting a frown. "Those descriptions you told me about what this toon looked like, I knew something like that once existed." He added, flipping through the pages. "Unfortunately, they haven't been seen in a rather long time, they were simply recorded as 'lost'."

"Who is it then?" Bradley's mother asked.

The cat stopped at a page that had the toon that was described as "devil-like", but there was no picture. "They called him... 'Bendy'." He said lowly, almost ominous.

The Warners all raised their eyebrows. "Does that mean he's out of shape?" Wakko said a moment later.

"Jeez I hope not, you know how much gym regimens cost now? That sweat ain't worth it." Dot added.

Bradley kept his focus on what was just said by the feline. "Bendy? Only Bendy I know was from that 'Fosters' show, with the pointed hair and yellow and black striped fur."

"Same name yes, but different breed of toon altogether." The cat said. "It's said he vanished not long ago, to quote: 'Grumpy but mischievous, hasn't been seen since'. It could be a long shot indeed, but it's the only toon that matches what that henchman said about him."

"Is there nothing else?" Bradley asked curiously.

The feline shook his head. "Other than starring in a very obscure series of old cartoons with equally obscure toons, there's all there is on him."

"Hm... Well we know who he is, so now the question is 'where'." Mom said to himself.

"As well as when, what and why." Yakko said. "Can't forget the remaining W's of storytelling after all."

The cat huffed softly. "Well, that's the problem, we don't know where. His personality says "mischevious", so perhaps this is all a certain game to him. Either he doesn't know or this is part of a sicker sense of humor. I'd put my betting dollars on the latter if that were the case."

Bradley thought a moment in silence, trying to come up with an idea. "Well maybe..." He started, the others looking at him. "What if we find and rescue the toons he's taken away? Maybe if we do that, it could give us some more clues to where exactly he is."

The cat mumbled to himself this time. "That... May not be a bad idea. But we don't know where out trapped friends are either."

Shannon poked the cat a moment later. "Hey, I know this is really important, but can I at least get up so I'm not squished in between five other people?"

"Oh, sorry!" Bradley said, getting up and helping Shannon get back on her feet too.

"Could be worse, one of our anvils could've dropped in, what would ya say to that?" Yakko asked curiously. "Seriously, what, cause we're stumped."

"Regardless though, it's still a really big clue. We gotta get those toons out first, but where to look..." Bradley mumbled to himself. They couldn't rely on the suits they captured cause they spilled all they had... Or did they? "I think we need to talk to those suits one more time."

"You're really sure about that?" Mom said as she stood up.

"Yeah... They wouldn't say anything about their leader, but maybe they could say something about where the toons are kept. A hint or anything like that." Bradley said with a shrug. "And depending on how many there are, we'll probably need help."

"Well never fear, for the looney calvary is here!" The Warners all said in unison, posing proudly.

Bradley smiled at seeing them so excited, the feline standing as well. "I'll try as well. It certainly sounds exciting to try and solve this." He said with a little smirk.

"Then let's head down to the station again. Hopefully the second one's awake by now." Bradley said. "All of us." He said with a little smile to the suited cat as well.

"Very well. It'll give me good some exercise anyway." The cat said with a nod, fetching and twirling his cane.

"Well then... Race ya!" Wakko said as he and the other two siblings darted out of the house instantly and giggling.

The others rolled their eyes and walked instead. "Annoying, but still good kids. You're lucky to stay their friend for this long." The feline said with a softer voice to Bradley.

"Sometimes I tell myself that too, but thanks." Bradley said with a little laugh as they headed back to the van.

 _5:15 PM_

After driving back to the station, the toon cops let them in upon the group asking if the second sleeping suit woke up. They said he just recently did, so they headed into the room where he was still cuffed. The suit looked a little groggy, but looked mostly recovered.

Bradley stepped forward. "Hey, you can hear me, right?" He said to the suit with crossed arms, who nodded in response with a scowl.

"And what do you want?" The cuffed henchman mumbled.

"Just something to tell your boss..." Bradley thought a moment. "Whoever they are." He fibbed, just in case. "Tell them we know their game, and tell them-"

 _At the unknown location before_

"-We're ready to play." Bradley's voice said through a speaker at the boss toon's desk, the same one from before. The black, inky toon cracked a smirk, he must've been listening for a while.

"He he... Now that's the answer I wanted to hear!" The toon said with a soft giggle, ink sliding down his person and pooling on the ground. "We finally found a player, and it's the one I've been most interested in, what a find!" He said to himself. He closed his eyes while that big smile was still on his face. "Now tell him this..."

 _At the station_

"He's hidden pieces of a map where the captured toons are. You can send as many of your buddies to these places as you want if you can find them." The suit explained, likely being fed words from the boss. "More of us are gonna be at those places, and it'll be up to you all to get your friends out before you're caught. It's very simple that even an undeveloped inkblot can do it." He added as he smirked at the Warners, who looked at each other with raised eyebrows of confusion.

"Been a while since I've heard that term thrown about." The feline said with a quiet tone to himself.

"Another of us will bring you the hints to the places somewhere very easy to find, so don't worry about searching long." The suit added. "And take your time, it's not like we or they are going anywhere." He said with a snicker. "But yes, that's all you get for now. Time to begin." The suit finished, appearing to say nothing else.

Bradley crossed his arms and thought for a moment. So this really was a game to this guy. "Hmm... We're definitely gonna need some more help." He said they ended up leaving.

Shannon finally piped up. "Well I don't know about you, but I think it's time for me to get back home first. Besides, dinner's probably getting ready for me right now."

"Oh, right, sorry!" Bradley said with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "Kinda forgot what time it was."

"Smooooooth." Yakko said with a slight nudge to the human's side.

 _6 PM_

After dropping off Shannon in the human world and returning to Toontown, as well as the cat heading back to his home, they headed back up the Water Tower where Bradley got out his phone, calling up Rick, then Stan. They both answered and Bradley gave them similar messages each of "come here either after dinner or tomorrow" and that "we found a breakthrough". They both seemed excited, but Stan felt a little unsure, especially with what happened last time, but both agreed to be there after dinner, at least for a while.

Bradley then hung up and sighed gently, sitting on the bed while the Warners played their games of "gag tag", where they tried to use different gags like seltzer and pies, standard things that they had an abundence of. He wondered about these new clues and this whole game that this "Bendy" character was making out of these kidnapped toons. Even after dinner the thoughts weren't subsiding. What was this going to accomplish?

Soon at 6:50, Bradley got a call from Stan. "Ooh, friends!" Wakko said as the Warners surrounded the teen.

"Heh, hold on." Bradley said with a chuckle as he answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Brad, something's not right here!" Stan said with an annoyed yet worried tone.

"We're outside the tunnel-" Rick said in the background. "-And we can't get in! It's not showing Toontown!"

Bradley immediately felt his stomach sink and his smile fade, going from happy to worried quickly. "You can't get in? Ugh, what'd they do..." He mumbled to himself, also annoyed. He didn't expect the tunnel to seal up out of nowhere like that, how're they gonna get in? "I'll be right back, just stay there!" He said as he hung up the phone, heading outside.

 _7 PM, At the admin building_

"What do you mean you had no choice?" Bradley said to Plotz angrily. "Those are my friends out there!"

"I'm sorry, but the rest of the toons that haven't been taken agreed it's the best thing to do. And we can't exactly reverse a decision like that just as easily." The CEO explained.

"When did you even do that?!" Bradley asked, his mood sinking further.

"Not long after you came back actually and dropped your other friend back off on the other side." Plotz answered, as if nothing was wrong.

"But we found a really big clue when we caught those suits-" Bradley started, but Plotz cut him off.

"I know that, it's incredibly stressful having to do this, but the othersdon't know what's been going on." The CEO responded.

"Can't we just tell them-" Bradley started before being cut off again.

"Too late, they already dispersed and we can't exactly hold a recount right now."

Bradley was only getting angrier. "But at least bring my friends outside the tunnel in!" He shouted.

"Oof, getting a little boiling in here." Yakko said to his sibs, keeping a fair distance away from the argument.

"I'll open a window, some fresh air's good for the complexion anyway." Dot said as she walked over casually to open the window up.

Plotz sighed and soon nodded. "Fine, call them up on my phone this time and press the button in the middle." He explained as Bradley nodded and dialed Stan's number again. As soon as he heard the "hello", Bradley pushed the button pointed out to him and a toon hole materialized in front of the two other teens, then another in an empty space in the office.

"Nice secret there." Bradley said after he calmed down. Soon the other two popped out and joined them.

"Whew, alright, now what's going on?" Stan said, still annoyed.

"Long story, but apparently they voted to close the tunnels to Toontown. They probably think the humans are getting too dangerous and they still don't know where they've been taken to, so they're not letting any more in so it'll avoid being a ghost town." Bradley explained to them.

"Wasn't that a little long too?" Yakko said.

Rick looked worried now. "No more humans? This is getting really out of control."

"I know, which is why we gotta find the toons before things get even more chaotic, in a bad way." Bradley said urgently. "Which means the next clue we found means more now than ever.

After telling the two of them what clue it was that the group discovered and who may have been behind it all, they looked more confused. "Really? Who's this 'Bendy' guy?" Stan said.

Bradley shrugged. "I dunno, there's no pictures of him anywhere. But we got a description, a game, and some more clues coming soon enough.

"So we still don't even know what he looks like other than 'devil-like'?" Stan said. "Even if that sounds cool..." He added, trailing off.

Rick snapped his fingers at his friend. "Hey, come on!" He said to snap Stan out of his thoughts. "So when are these clues gonna show up?" He asked.

Soon after he said that, some papers blew in through the window Dot opened, flying right into Plotz's face, making him stumble and fall back. "Gah! What's with this littering!"

The Warners snickered at seeing the CEO all flustered as he wiped the papers off his face. "What even are these anyway?" Plotz said with a huff.

Bradley grabbed them off the floor and looked over each one. "Hmm, they all have writing on them... I think these could be the clues." He said after looking them over. He puts them on the desk and shines a lamp on them, reading off what they said. "Hmm... Big one says 'Tied Together', and the others say:"

 _"Around the world"_

 _"Great tall castle"_

 _"Shield and Ring"_

 _"Fishing in Sky"_

"What in... What do all of THOSE mean?" Stan said with a frown. "Cryptic little..." He mumbled to himself.

Bradley looked over the clues a couple times with the Warners peeking out behind him. "Hmm... Wait a minute..." He said softly as he started to catch on. "'Shield and Ring' sounds familiar, isn't that the shape of your Warner Bros. logo?" He said to the CEO as well as taking the caretaker badge out of his pocket which looked like the same thing.

"Why yes, why do you say that?" Plotz said as he walked over too. "You figure something out?"

"Yeah, that my head looks great like that." Dot said with a bright smile.

"Just don't give her any more vanity mirrors." Yakko mumbled to Bradley.

The human teen shushed them and put the pieces and similarities together in his head. "They're all movie logos, aren't they?" Bradley said after a few more seconds of thought. "Like the different studios?"

"Yes, different districts of Toontown." Plotz said, walking over and pointing to the clues on the paper. "Universal, Disney(The Warners gagged at that), Warner Bros.("That's us!" The siblings shouted happily), and Dreamworks. Even though they all mingle together in the town, their homes are still there."

"So what does it mean by them all being 'tied together'?" Rick wondered out loud.

"It means that they're in their districts' studios where the toons are made." Plotz said, crossing his arms. "In the middle of each district, they have their own studio, a big one. They must be held there."

"So if we find them..." Bradley started.

"We find the toons!" Stan and Rick said at the same time right after.

"Well what're ya waiting for, let's get ourselves into a rescue mission!" Yakko said happily, the three Warners packing.

"Wait!" Bradley said, the others freezing."I'm not sure if we'll have enough time to go to every studio one by one. We gotta split up."

"Aww, but we were getting along so well..." Wakko said in dismay.

"No, I meant split into little groups to each studio." Bradley said in assurence. "It'll save on a lot of time. Yakko, Wakko, Dot; you'll stay here and look for the toons in this one. They must be hidden somewhere where you couldn't hear or see them easily." He added, the siblings saluting.

"Rick and Stan, you'll take the Dreamworks one." Bradley said to the two of them, nodding in agreement.

"I'll take Disney, so that leaves..." The teen started, then a knock was heard.

"Me to take on the world." A familiar voice called out. It was the cat, all suited up and smirking as he walked in.

"Yay! Our kitty!" The Warners said happily, cheering and rushing to surround him with tight hugs. The cat grumbled a bit, but appreciated it.

Bradley snickered softly and walked over to the suited cat. "You really wanna join us and help do this?"

"Depends on if he can still be trusted." Plotz said with a huff. It seemed like he still had doubts about it.

"Yeah, he kinda has a point." Rick said, sighing lightly.

"Look here..." The cat said as he knelt down closer to Bradley's eye level, the Warners hopping off of him. "I know I've made plenty of mistakes. And I know some toons still don't trust me." He said, looking over to Plotz before looking back to Bradley. "I've worked as hard as I could to get back here and learn since that day. And helping this town get back to normal and rescuing our toons in need? Why wouldn't I sign up for something like that?"

"So that means you're gonna let him go on our adventure, right?" Wakko said eagerly.

"Yeah, come on Plotzy! Let him, let him!" Yakko said too.

"It'd add some variety for our group picture too!" Dot added with a bright smile, with all three Warners pressing against the CEO, again disregarding what personal space was.

"Well I trust him." Bradley said. "After so long, this'd be perfect for everyone else to trust him too."

The feline smiles and bares his fangs, ruffling the human's head. "Thank you Bradley." He said simply. "I won't let any of you down. that's my solumn promise." He added to the group.

"Alright, so are we doing this or what?" Stan said a bit impatiently.

"Yeah, the sooner the better!" Rick added.

"Geez, who gave them their 5-Hour Energies alluva sudden?" Yakko asked to his siblings with a smirk.

"Yes, while we all have enough energy to stay awake most preferably." The suited feline said.

"Hmph, fine." Plotz said, heading over to his office phone. While he was doing that, Bradley called the others over to him, getting in a huddle.

"This... Personally I'm not sure how this is gonna go. This'll be a really tough thing to get through." Bradley said in a softer tone to them. "If we find these toons, we'll find this Bendy guy, and maybe all of this'll stop."

"So this is gonna be a 'save the world' thing again, huh? At least it ain't gonna be like a lie about a show revival." Yakko said with a wink to the readers.

"Well I guess..." Stan said, a little unsure.

Rick noticed that change in tone, looking over to him. "Oh come on, these toons ain't bad once you get to know them."

"I know, why do you think we've been helping out Brad and those inky things?" Stan responded, that unsure tone gone and replaced with that annoyed expression.

"Well that ain't the worst thing people've called us." Dot said with a shrug.

"I hope we get a big, giant feast by the end of this!" Wakko said eagerly, rubbing his tummy.

"Heh... I'm sure we could try, my friend." The feline said to the middle sibling, much to his happiness.

"We gotta try, before they end up taking more of those toons..." Rick said as well.

"We will, I promise." Bradley said to Rick, assuring him it'll be fine. You all in?" He asked the group.

The Warners looked at each other. "Depends, do we get any cards to see if it's worth it?" Yakko quipped. "This ain't the WPN."

Bradley rolled his eyes and smirked. "Different meaning."

"Oh, then yeah!" Dot said happily.

Everyone else nodded and said some form of agreement, another minute passing before Plotz returned. "I gave calls to all the people in charge of their parts of the town and they said you're free to go in their studios." The CEO said. "And that doesn't mean break anything in mine, Warners." He added with a slight scowl.

"Don't worry, we'll 'probably' not wreck anything on the way there." Yakko promised.

"Yeah, pinky swear and all!" Dot added as she held her pinky up to emphasize the point.

"That honestly don't make me feel better... But we have no choice." The CEO responded.

Bradley nods as well. "Alright, then let's pack up and go get our toons back!" He said with a bright and confident tone.

They were so close to rescuing those toons, they had all the clues... But meanwhile, the inky devil toon smirked in his seat at his own location, eager for his game to begin.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, I had to take a break cause I got stuck right near the end. I got things figured out though, so hopefully the next one won't be as long to put out._


	9. The Search Is On

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _8 PM, at the Water Tower_

The whole group was brought to the Water Tower, with so many of Bradley's thoughts rushing through his head. He was about to do the biggest rescue he's ever done, with all his friends backing him up. He looks to the people helping him out:

Rick and Stan, the ex-bullies turned friends.

The nameless feline, reformed and ready to earn his trust.

The Warner siblings, all three excited to go on something so important.

And of course himself, the determined teen himself, not letting anything stop him from saving Toontown's future. "Alright, does everyone know the plan?"

Wakko raised his hand, holding a hot dog. "Does it involve relish? It's no party plan without it!"

Bradley raised an eyebrow and simply shook his head. "I'll repeat it then." He said as he cleared his throat. "Plotz is gonna give us all special toon holes to go to these studios." He explained. "Once we're in there, we'll use the other toon holes we're given so when we find those toons and free them, they can all jump in and come back to the spot we marked out there." Bradley added. "That suit said there'll be more of others like him in those places, so take these." He said as he brought out the cans of sleep spray he had taken, from when this started til now. One for Rick and Stan, and another for the cat.

"Don't worry, we got this." Stan said with a smirk, feeling cocky.

"I promise that we'll do our best. For our town's sake." The suited cat responded as well.

"And if not, ehhhh... We'll do it later, we're flexible." Yakko said with a shrug.

Bradley chuckled a little and shrugs. "I think it'd be best to get this done ASAP."

"That's what those suits are for doing this in the first place." Rick said with a laugh of his own, adding to the "a sap" bit.

Bradley moves back to his corner of the Water Tower where all the pictures are, looking over them one last time, letting those memories flood back into him again. He smiles to himself lightly and goes to the chest of gags to stuff what he could in his hammer-space toon-woven jeans, such has several smaller objects to hinder the suits, a full seltzer bottle, his cell phone and so on. He also gave a few more in bags to Rick and Stan. "Alright, think that's everything..." He mumbled to himself. He can easily swipe a sleep-spray can from a suit if they have any. "Everyone else gagged up and good to go?"

The Warners nodded eagerly first. Wakko mumbled with a sock in his mouth, again taking "gagged up" literally. "He says 'Yeah, can't wait to try them out'!" Dot interpreted, with Wakko giving a thumbs up.

"You ask that like we ever run out?" Yakko said with his hands on his hips.

"Just making sure." Bradley responded. "Everyone got their holes too?" He added to check. The group each brought out their toon holes to go to each of their respective studios' entrances. Bradley soon brought out his own, smiling and nodding. "Alright... This is gonna be really tough, but... Good luck everyone." The human said as he slapped down his hole to the floor, jumping in. Rick, Stan and the feline soon followed while the Warners hopped out of the tower, on the way to their own studio.

 _Bradley, at the Disney district and studio_

Bradley soon arrived at his destination in good time, looking up at the huge building in front of him. He had never been in this place in Toontown before since it wasn't really accessible most of the time, so he was undoubtedly nervous. He sighs a little and goes through the opening gate, heading towards the big door. He brings his cell out, calling each person. "You all made it?" He asked them. After a few seconds, he got varying degrees of yeses. "Alright, be careful, we don't know what'll be in there." Bradley warned them before ending the brief call. He sighed gently and enters.

The Toontown version of this studio looked much bigger, but either due to the time or the takeover by the suits, it was practically empty. There were pictures of various toons on the wall that fit the type of animation it did as well such as Mickey, Donald and so on, so the scenery didn't look too changed, but the atmosphere felt heavier than usual. "Where to look first..." The human mumbled to himself before heading down a random hall.

 _Rick and Stan, at the Dreamworks studio_

"This place is really big..." Rick said to his friend as they wandered the halls. "How're we gonna find the toons in here?"

"What, you expect them to have some kind of map or arrows saying 'toons here, come over'?" Stan said with crossed arms.

"No, I'm just saying, what should we even look for?" Rick asked. "This place feels spooky..."

The two of them continued to walk down the halls, the walls looking very looney and odd in their wallpapers. Stan looked a bit put off by it, which Rick noticed. "Come on, you've seen weirder." Rick said as they continued to walk. After another minute, Rick noticed something and pulled Stan into an empty room, peeking out to see a few suits cross the hallway in front of them.

"About time... How're we gonna sneak past them?" Stan whispered.

Rick thought a moment before he got an idea, getting something from the bag. "Stay here." He said to Stan as he left the room when the suits went out of view. He brought a couple of marbles out and tossed them to a dead-end hall, backing off when the group heard them and ran in that direction. Stan watched on as the suits darted across the hall, with Rick waving his hand to have him come out and continue.

 _Cat, at the Universal studio_

The suited feline hummed and continued walking, naturally silent without any need to sneak. In the silence, he took the time to think a little to himself, would they really appreciate him once all this was over? Would this be the one to help break that air of distrust? As he slinked around the corners, cane in hand, those thoughts seemed to cloud his mind somewhat, but he had to think other positive thoughts. The humans trusted him with so much when he had none from no one else, so he couldn't let them down.

The cat peeked slowly around the next corner as he sees more suits, smirking a little. "Hm, they won't mind a visitor of class, will they?" He muttered to himself. He decides to risk it, since as of this moment, they haven't seen or heard the cat yet, or even knew he existed or posed any threat. What better time to use it to his advantage? "Excuse me, gents?" He asked the suits, who turned around curiously.

"Pardon me, but I seem to have gotten myself rather lost. Which way is it to the visitor center or the exit, I seem to have gotten myself stuck. It is closing time, yes?" He asked them.

The confused suits looked to each other, then back to the cat. "Umm... I guess? Visitor center's to the left, then straight a little ways." One of them said.

As the cat approached, his hands were behind his back, slipping something on he brought out of his pocket. "Thank you dear gents. Allow me to part you with a slight gift for helping a fellow citizen out." The feline said as he shook two of the suits' hands, but the feline's hands had joy buzzers, particularly strong ones as well. He smirked as they fell down to the ground, knocked out. "You're far too kind." The cat said with a devious chuckle as he looked at one of them having a slip of paper.

"Hello, what's this?" He mumbled, putting up the piece. It looked shredded, but had some scribbles. "An arrow and some lines... Are these directions?" He asked himself. He searched the other suit to make sure, he had nothing. "Fascinating." He added, deciding to give his human friends a call.

"I've found something rather interesting on our friends. Some of them have slips of paper on their persons that have directions to somewhere." He said after Bradley, Rick and Stan responded with their greetings.

"Directions?" Bradley said.

"To what?" Rick added right after.

"My guess is that part of Bendy's game doesn't involve just sneaking around. If we're gonna find these toons of ours, we must get up close." The cat said. "I just hope the three of you can handle something like that. Don't want you falling behind now." He said with a smirk.

"We'll keep an eye out, thanks!" Bradley said before cutting his part of the call.

The feline soon did the same, pocketing the slip of paper. "Hm... I hope the other siblings are doing well too." He wondered out loud since he forgot to call them. But he's sure they'll be fine.

 _The Warners, in the WB studio_

The brothers and sister team were being their sneaky selves, dressed in ninja outfits as they rolled through the halls. They looked left and right before rolling again, then doing cartwheels and flips off of each other before coming across a group of suits. They looked to each other and nodded, as if coming up with a plan on the fly as they crept closer. They tip-toed closer to the group and Wakko brought out a rather big whistle, getting a big breath before blowing into it.

The sound of that huge whistle, especially that close, made the suits jump into the air in surprise, making them break through the ceiling and get stuck, making the siblings laugh. "We got liftoff!" Yakko said with a rather happy tone.

"You think NASA's tried that before?" Dot asked.

"One of these days they'll learn, sis." Yakko said with a smile, patting her head.

"Hey look, something fell out!" Wakko said, getting the piece of ripped paper from one of the suits that fell from his person. "Looks like my kind of drawing..."

"Squiggles and lines? I'd say that fits." Yakko said as he looked closer along with Dot.

"Do they all have these?" Dot asked curiously.

"Hm, only one way to find out!" Yakko said happily, until the suit ended up falling out from the ceiling looking dazed. "Ehhhh, not here though." He added, the siblings agreeing as they zipped away before the suit had any idea what happened.

 _Bradley_

The teen had continued his sneaking, wanting to keep an ear our for something, anything for the missing toons. He didn't wanna call out in case the suits were nearby until he saw two of them. He remembered the strategy of what he was told to get the directions to the toons and thinks over how to knock them out with what he had. He did have the sleep spray, but he figured he should save that for if he does get caught.

He decides to go for the classic marble trick after knocking on the wall and hiding, drawing the two suits' attentions. Bradley felt nervous when he spilled the marbles, but after hearing the "whoa"s and THUD of something hitting the ground, he smiles at a job well done. He walks to one of the knocked out suits and swiped their slip of paper, seeing squiggles as well. The other one had nothing.

"Hmm, he's right, they look like the start of a map... But who else has these?" He said to himself, hiding again after seeing a group of two suits. "They gotta be scattered everywhere..." He added with a quieter tone. That and he didn't know how many pieces were in this map. There could be three, 15 or in between. He shouldn't give up though, so he continues onward.

As he walked, he thought over some things that were said to him in the new silence. What Shannon said to him popped up in his head: "Is staying with those three friends of yours really worth it in the long run?" Thinking over all the tricks and all the pranks and fun times, get-togethers and meetings in a world he uncovered by complete accident... Of course it was worth it! At least so far it was. Bradley sighed softly and kept going, putting the thought out of his head for now as he didn't want to get too distracted.

 _Rick and Stan_

Meanwhile, the bully duo weren't having as much luck. They were running through various hallways with three suits right behind them that had recently caught them. Stan had to be convinced to run though, as tough as he wanted to be. "Come on, keep going!" Rick shouted, Stan close behind. The suits were gaining on them bit by bit as well. "Get your sleep spray out!" He added.

Stan frowned and got it out of his bag, turning around and spraying the mist of sleep-inducing gas out to the suits. The suits held their breaths before it hit them, powering through. "Grr, they held their breath!" Stan shouted in frustration.

Rick frowned and got an idea. "Hold on!" He shouted before immediately stopping. He turned around and leaped on one of the suits with a "Raah!", making the suit fall down before it could react. The other suit noticed and stopped. "Get it, now!" Rick shouted. Stan was about to call him crazy but went for it anyway, both boys trying again for the spray to work. Both pressed the sprays to their faces and it worked, they couldn't hold their breath in time.

Rick and Stan sighed and sat down, the former getting another slip of paper to add to what they had. "It's starting to look more like a real map..." He said as he noticed the squiggles forming into real hallways, with an arrow pointing somewhere.

Stan moved closer and noticed too. "Yeah, is that arrow where we're supposed to go?" He asked curiously.

"I think so..." Rick answered. "It's gotta lead to those toons, but it doesn't show where those suit things are."

"Well surprise surprise!" Stan said a bit angrily. "Ugh, I hate those things!" He added as he sat up and rested his head on a nearby wall.

"You're just mad that they caught you off-guard, don't worry." Rick assured him. "It ain't gonna be that bad.

Stan didn't want to hear it. He huffed and started walking away. "Come on already, let's find the rest." He mumbled, half-storming off down the next hall. Rick followed him down, worried.

 _Cat_

"Hmph, this place feels like a maze... Never ending circles, it feels like." The feline said. Using his natural sneakiness to his advantage, he had already found another piece. It looked like he had one or two more left before his map to the toons would be complete. He stopped and looked at some of the old Universal animation cels, like Woody Woodpecker and the old Land Before Time characters that lined the hall he was in. The feline sighed softly, resting a gloved hand on one of the pictures.

"Can't help but miss the old times." He said to himself. "When pens and ink ruled instead of cyber-drawings."

He walked through this little "Memory Lane" of his for a little while. "I do wish that the idea of hand-drawn returns soon after we rescue them. There's too many digital copies spreading around." The cat added before shaking his head to snap himself out of it, and just in time for there was another suit in front of him. The feline hid across the corner, cane in hand. "Speaking of old times... Time for a little old trick." He whispered to himself, twirling the cane and putting his free hand in front of him. He peeked around the corner and waved his fingers like he was playing a piano with each step the suit took.

The suit noticed and looked around. "Who's doing that?" They called out worriedly, the cat continuing to play a soft note with each step the suit took.

"Add the suspense..." The feline whispered, wiggling his index finger to make it sound like a violin was playing. "Why so nervous, chum?" He added quietly, the suit slowly moving away with back towards the feline. Each step made the sustained violin pitch up a note higher, the feline waiting a moment until the suit got closer... He then stopped, twisting the top of his cane off and flicked the remaining part down, making a big mallet pop out the hole.

Preparing his strike, the cat got right behind the suit, raising the mallet high and slamming it back down on the unsuspecting suit with a big "THWACK", making many stars pop out as the suit fell to the ground, knocked out. The feline smirked and held the mallet over his shoulder. "And who says no one can indulge in old-fashioned slapstick anymore?" The feline said as he pressed the mallet end back down into his cane and twisted the top back on. Searching the suit, he found another shred of paper, feeling proud as he put the shreds he had on the floor to make a full map.

"A-ha, there you are..." The cat said with a smirk. "Don't worry folks, your savior is coming. I'm hopeful the others are also on their way too..."

 _Warner Siblings_

The Warner Brothers and Sister were having too much fun instead of searching for the map to the toons, letting themselves get chased and chase back with various gags and annoying sounds, such as shouting through bullhorns, singing, rolling, treating it like one of their chases. They zipped around a corner and the group of suits saw that they vanished. "Where'd they go?!" One of them shouted angrily.

"I'll give ya three guesses!" Yakko said behind them, hopping above their heads.

"Catch us and we'll give ya a nice prize!" Wakko added, hopping as well and on top of Yakko's shoulders.

Dot joined them, but put her hands on two suits' heads and clonked them together before jumping onto Wakko's shoulders. "It's not THAT hard, is it?" She said with a little smile.

"Should we make it a little easier sibs?" Yakko suggested.

"Weeeeeell, maybe a little." Dot answered with a little inch-long space between thumb and pointer finger.

With that, the Warners got off of their tower formation and ran right towards them. "Dog pile!" They all shouted in unison, cheering as an applauding crowd sounded off somewhere in the background. Yakko and Wakko, now dressed in football gear, decided to put a little trick into their plan, and instead the middle sibling passed a football to one of the suits.

"Here, your problem now!" Yakko shouted before a rumbling sound was heard. Soon after, a huge group of football players came charging down their hallway towards the suits, making them scream and start running away. Too little too late though, as the team clobbered the suits for the ball. Dot blew her whistle as she was now in a referee costume, and threw a yellow flag out.

"Alright alright, good show guys, take 5!" Yakko said to the team, one of them even getting their autograph for their troubles.

"Imagine if we went with the Browns, huh?" Yakko said to his brother and sister, all three now in their normal clothes as the other two nodded in agreement. They saw some slips of paper on the ground next to the dazed and knocked out suits, picking them up. "Ah, there's the rest of our map!"

"Now we can find our treasure of friends?" Wakko asked happily.

"Oh wouldn't that be nice." Dot said with a light sigh.

The three of them then looked at their area trashed from their last prank. "Hmm... Eh, we'll put it on their tab." Yakko said with a shrug. "If we could make a zillion dollars with three movies years ago, this shouldn't be a problem, right?" He added, the two of them shaking their heads in agreement.

 _Bradley_

He wasn't having much better luck, one slip of paper left and he was cornered by three suits. He tried thinking of a way out, he did have options from either his sleep spray or his own gags he packed. Then two of the suits started reaching for him, the teen backing up and moving their hands so they were holding the other like a handshake. He took the split second he had to leap onto the held hands and jump again over the third's head with a "thank you!", landing with a roll but almost scraping his head on the ceiling.

The three of them turned around towards Bradley and started chasing him again. He brought out a toon portal and slapped it right at their feet, making them fall through. He had another one for the pair and slapped it on the ground the other way, making their feet pop out first before falling back into it. They seesawed portal to portal, yelping and screaming as the gravity kept them going back and forth. Bradley ended up snickering at this silly sight, but had a job to do. He took the second portal away after they went through it one more time and they landed right on their backs with a groan.

"Now that's a ride I wouldn't wanna get on." Bradley said to himself. He snatched the last slip of paper after searching them and got away, snatching the portals up and pocketing them.

He called his allies and friends once he was sure to be safe. "Alright, I got them all!"

"What, your Pokemon?" Stan said on the other end, sounding a little winded.

"No, the papers, the map to the missing toons in my studio! How's everyone else doing, do you all have yours?"

"Affirmative." The feline said.

"Yup yup yup!" The Warners responded with their happy tones.

"Just got ours too." Rick and Stan said too.

"Alright, let's get to those rooms and avoid what's left of the suits, fast!" Bradley said urgently, keeping them on the line as he followed the path the map made.

He soon reached the room pointed out on the map and sighed softly, not knowing what else would be behind it. He relaxed a little and slowly opened the unlocked door, the room looking like a traditional animation room with stacks of paper, tables, pens and pencils and so on. It was big through, enough for a cage of toons and contraption in the back that he just noticed. He sees the captured toons in it and waves at them as he walked over.

"Oh thank you, we're saved!" One of them said, elated to see someone friendly.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out, promise." Bradley said with a softer tone, assuring them they'll be okay. The captured group of toons nodded as the human teen went to the contraption. "Hmm, this should be easy enough." He said as he pressed the big release button on the center of the console. He waited a few seconds and pressed it again, then again after another second. "What the, it's not doing anything?" He said as he pressed it over and over, each first press making the console beep and the next making it buzz.

He called up his friends again. "Hey everyone, are you in the rooms those papers told you to go?"

"Yeah, listen!" The Warners responded first, with various toon voices saying various things, one of which being "I never thought I'd be happy to see the Warner Brothers again".

"And the Warner Sister!" Dot responded.

"Well have you tried pressing that big release button you're seeing?" Bradley asked.

"Yes, but unfortunately it doesn't do anything." The feline said.

"Maybe it needs a firmer press." Wakko said as he brought out a mallet from his hat.

Bradley heard that and immediately screamed "NO!", realizing what Wakko was about to do when he meant it. "If you smash it, they'll never get out of there!"

"Well what do we do then?" Rick said worriedly.

"Alright think... Of course they never made it easy..." Bradley said to himself. "What if... What if it's like a pattern?" He mumbled as he sees four lights on the top. "I think we need to press them in order!"

"Hmm... That actually makes sense, a security feature where you do in fact need a group like this." The feline said with a hum. "Ingenious..." He added to himself.

"Alright, so what's the pattern then?" Stan said.

"Let me think a bit more, I'll get back to ya." Bradley said, sighing lightly as he lowered his hand holding his cell.

"We're gonna get out, right?" One of the toons in the cage said to the human.

He nods softly in response. "Yeah you will, just gotta figure out the pattern to get everyone out of here at once." Bradley said with a reassuring smile. He then focused his thoughts on trying to figure out what the combinations could mean. "Hm... Could they be tied to the studio we're at?" He said to himself. "Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers and Dreamworks... Is it in that order? No harm in trying." He said as an idea lit up in his head.

"I think I got it!" Bradley said when he called up his friends again. "The pattern's based on what studio we're in!"

"Well that's great, but how does that help?" Stan asked.

"The clues we were given back at in Plotz's office, the order was Universal, Disney, WB and Dreamworks!" Bradley said. "We gotta try, Mr. Cat, press your button first!" He said, the feline doing just that.

"Hmm, I have a green light on my side." The cat said, Bradley soon noticing on his console too.

"I do too, now my turn." Bradley said as he pressed the button, a beep sounding off and a second green light illuminating. "Yakko, Wakko and Dot, your turn, press your button."

"Which one, we got plenty!" Wakko said, pressing his nose to make a clicking sound and have static sound off on their side for a moment before hearing some kind of radio. The middle siblings ears ended up looking all crooked as Dot tried to adjust them.

"No, the one on the console in front of you." Bradley said with a roll of his eyes. Yakko took over and pressed it. "Yup, light number three. Now Rick and Stan, your turn."

The two humans pressed the button and green light number four lit up. There was a dinging sound and a loud buzz, then the cages unlocked and opened up. "Yes!" Bradley said triumphantly as the toons left their cages. "Those suits must've heard that buzzing. Alright everyone, down this hole!" Bradley said as he brought out the special toon portal he kept in a separate pocket. "This one'll take you outside the studio, hurry!" He told them, the toons celebrating and hopping and running over each other towards the hole to jump down it.

Stan and Rick, the cat and the Warners soon did the same with their toon holes, with the group gradually jumping into it and exiting after the exit hole formed outside the studio as promised. As Bradley looked on though, he noticed something odd. These toons were ones he didn't recognize at all. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard someone in that group say "I'm finally gonna get my own show and purpose!"

"These are all... New ideas, new toons..." Bradley said to himself. It wasn't a coincidence after all that the toons they've seen during this whole thing we ones they didn't see before anywhere else. His toon group almost were all down the hole before Bradley saw a huge group of suits outside the hall. They ran towards the room they were in, but he was faster and closer, shutting the door. "Everyone hurry in, they're coming!" He shouted as the door was hit upon, the teen holding his ground as the group of toons went as fast as they could.

Assuming the others were already down their holes as well right after the last toon jumped in, he ran towards his own and as a result, unblocked the door and made it open up. A suit ran to him and grabbed him by the leg, making him trip and fall on his front. He couldn't make the jump now since at least one will likely follow him down too. He brought out his sleep spray and got the one that was holding his foot, but two more grabbed his arms and another stepped over the knocked out suit, taking the sleep spray can and pointing it right at Bradley.

The teen wiggled to try and get free, ducking under the spray and slapping it away from the other suit when he got out of their grasp, rolling on the ground. He soon tossed down marbles as they ran around as well. Two of them lost balance and fell, groaning while two more chased him. He forgot that his cell phone was still open, the others having heard the struggle.

"Bradley, what's going on, are you still there?" Rick said worriedly.

"Oh yeah, just fi-INE!" Bradley yelped as he tucked under a swipe to grab him. "I can't get out though, there's too many suits after me! Gah, I can't let them follow me or get to the hole!"

"Oh dear." The feline said with a frown.

Bradley ducked under another swipe, almost tripping as he put a table between him and the two remaining suits. "Who can get to this studio entrance quicker?"

"Oh, I know who!" Wakko said on the other end, then silence.

"Well?" Rick said.

"I can't remember, I thought about 'em so fast." Wakko said sadly.

Bradley groaned and yelped again, ending up closing his cell and cutting the call off. Unknowing that he made the others fear the worst, he had to get to that hole as soon as possible, at least buy time for the toons to get away safely. He evaded another grab and went for the sleep spray, but one suit grabbed his leg. Bradley managed to reach though and give that suit a knock out spritz, but that was its last one. It ran out after a prolonged panic-spray, leaving Bradley open for capture by the remaining suit.

The teen did his best to jump and outrun the suit with his agility, ending up knocking over several chairs. Getting an idea though, he got some paper and a paintbrush nearby. After tripping the suit up with a knocked down chair, he decided to paint something on the paper quickly and fill it in with black paint. It was a big mallet, and Bradley was soon able to pull it out of the paper through the logic of toons.

The suit looked up shortly and gasped at seeing the now armed human teen, who raised the mallet and gave the suit a good whack on the head like Whack-A-Mole, leaving him stunned. Taking the chance to escape, Bradley started towards the hole, then stopped, seeing a slip of paper in the cage. He ran to grab it, then run back to the hole to dive in. The suit recovered though and dove after him, but instead of finding Bradley, he found the cat and the Warners face to face with him.

"Haha, our special friend is here!" Wakko said happily.

"Hmph, indeed." The feline said, greeting the suit with big smiles.

"You..." The suit started. "The boss will hear about this!" He added with an angry tone.

The feline leaned close, grabbing the suit by the collar firmly. "We're looking forward to it. We have all the clues, and we're going to find him." He said with a sly smile.

"Yeah, I saw there was another slip of paper in the cages." Bradley said when he finally got up. "It's got another map to it, it has to go where he is."

The feline nods and looks back to the suit with a chuckle. "Game... Over." He whispered menacingly to the suit before letting him go, back through the hole and in the studio. Bradley picked the hole back up, the one on the other side disappearing.

"So, is everyone freed?" Bradley said after a moment.

Everyone nods in agreement. "Yeah, everyone got through." Rick said.

"And we had a little fun doing it too." The cat said with a soft laugh. "I'm not afraid to admit it."

"Yeah, and all we did was make a messy hall!" Dot said too.

"Define 'messy'." Bradley said with an eyebrow raise.

"Excellent question." Yakko said as he got out glasses and a dictionary. "'Messy, adjective, untidy or dirty, confused and difficult to deal with.' Hey, that's us to a T!" He added with a happier tone.

"But we're not on a T." Wakko said as he looked down at his feet.

"Well either way..." Bradley started. "Let's put these pieces together and see where our guy is." He said. The others got their papers out too, setting them on the ground. After some rearranging, it was another map, leading to the Toontown outskirts. "Doesn't look like somewhere I've been to before..."

"Hm. Not many things are actually at Toontown's borders. It makes sense to a point." The feline said.

"So that's where our main guy is?" Stan said as he took a closer look.

Bradley nodded in response. "I think so..." He said, soon yawning.

"Well we're not gonna take him on while we're all tired. We'll tell the CEO and get to bed, then we'll go." The cat suggested. The others agreed, so they all threw down their holes and jumped in to go back to the Warner Film Lot.

 _At the mystery location_

Bendy smirks when he heard the news that the group managed to free the toons and find the map to his place, getting up out of his seat. "Hehehe... I knew they could do it, otherwise this wouldn't have been fun!" He said as he looked out a window. "We should get ready for their arrival so we can play some more!" He added as he left his room, leaving more inky footprints.

"I've never had this much fun with anyone in such a long time, it brings a little tear to the eye... They're so close, now let's see if they can reach the end." He said as the suits in the hall heard him talk to himself, then giggle some more. He was right, the group was finally about to find him, but what would they do after? Who knows.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Family, life, take your pick to why I was late this time, sorry! Trying to get the interest back, but I do believe we're starting to get close to the end! Just a little more to go, hopefully._


	10. Rescue on the Home Stretch

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _Warner Film Lot, in the Admin Building, 10 PM_

"So you finally found them?" Plotz said when he saw the groups return, wiping his brow. He had been admittedly very nervous after they left, so he hoped they had good news.

"Yup we got them all!" Bradley said with a bright and confident smile. "They're all back, at least I hope so. Right?" He said as he looked to the others, especially the Warners.

"Yeah, don't worry, they couldn't get out of there fast enough!" Yakko said. Who'd have thought that'd be related to a good thing?

"Mine left just as well." The suited cat said.

Rick and Stan also gave the same results. "Yup, after some trouble. Stan here wouldn't get over being all caught off guard by the last time he went up against one."

"Hey, it's not supposed to happen!" Stan said with a grumble, to which the Warners snickered.

"Well get used to it." Yakko said.

"It's what makes things fun for us!" Dot said happily.

Bradley let them talk before walking to the window after yawning. Wakko noticed and walked over to him. "'Ey, what's the matter?" He asked, hopping on top of the human's shoulders.

"Ehh... Just thinking things over." Bradley responded.

"Wonder what that's like." Wakko said, looking out the window too and resting his arms on top of the teen's head.

"Well, it's great that we got the toons back and we know where this Bendy person is, but... Why did he even want to do this?" Bradley wondered out loud. "Did he even know what Toontown was going to turn into without new toons in it? Or C.G. City or anywhere else here?"

"Maybe you can ask him when ya find him!" Wakko answered, hopping off.

"Yeah, I was thinking that." Bradley said with another yawn. "But of course I still have school, so after, we'll talk. I oughta tell Shannon about this too, since we're friends."

"So you DO like her!" Wakko said, getting the attention of the other Warners. Bradley shushed him right away.

"As a friend Wakko. And I'm sure she thinks that too. Like how I think of you all as friends." Bradley assured him. "But I still have to ask this guy about all of this. Why they took the toons and did what he did with his suit guys. Who knows, maybe they'll give a good explanation."

Soon after, Rick and Stan walked over. "Whatchya talkin' about over here?" Rick asked.

"Oh, just what we're gonna do when we find this Bendy person." Bradley answered.

"You mean pound them into a puddle?" Stan said with a smirk.

"Nooooo, as in talk first." Bradley said, rubbing his eyes. "After we sleep and after school, we'll head over and follow that new map we got." He added, with Stan looking disappointed.

"That's kind of a good idea anyway." Rick said in agreement.

"Aww, we can't have a little fun with them first?" Yakko said with a frown. "We had a lot of games planned, like Battleship and Chinese Checkers!"

"Who knows, but for now, we need rest." Bradley said plainly, he was just about at his limit of staying up.

"I'll stay with Plotz, we're gonna talk about what to do with our new clues." The feline said.

Bradley nods and Rick and Stan soon end up leaving through a specialized toon hole back to the human world, back to their respective houses.

As the group of 4 returned to the Water Tower and got into bed, Bradley sighed and thought things over that went through his head back at the studio. He looked over to the soon sleeping Warner siblings. They were definitely his friends and they'd stay friends for a long time, even if they were toons. There was no way it'd stop now.

 _The next morning, in the human world at school_

Bradley and the Warners left Mom's van when they reached his school, but Mom looked worried about Bradley as usual, but more so since this whole toonnapping fiasco went on. "You going to be alright?" She said worriedly.

"Yeah, we'll be fine, it's almost over." Bradley assured her with a smile.

"Don't worry, we'll steer him straight ma'am!" Yakko said, the three siblings grabbing Bradley and shaking him a little. "We'll insure the proper punishment if he strays out of line." He added with a slight southern accent, taking on the role of a cop.

Mom didn't chuckle though, she was genuinely worried for him. "Well if you're sure." She said simply, soon leaving.

As they four of them entered, the other students looked on with a slight bit of surprise and distain. How were those toons able to come to their school since they weren't allowed back in Toontown? Bradley assumed the tunnels were still closed off to the others.

"Well aren't you lucky?" One of the older teens said to Bradley, an 8th grader. "You still got your toon friends, but now my little brother can't even visit that place cause of what's going on in there."

"Well it's not my fault." Bradley said as he kept walking.

The older teen stopped him. "Then how come your blotches are still hanging out with you? What makes you special enough to keep going back and forth there huh?" He said, almost threateningly.

"Hey now, I can smell your aftershave from here." Yakko said with a disgusted "bleagh" face.

"You shut up!" The 8th grader said with a pointed finger at the older Warner brother. "You shouldn't even be here cause of what's happening!"

"We're trying to find out who's really to blame, we're close-" Bradley started before someone else joined the argument.

"Hey, leave them alone!" A feminine voice said. Shannon had heard what was being talked about and decided to intervene. "In case you're curious, he ended up saving that town years ago before you even knew it existed! He's trying his best, so back off!" She shouted, getting the attention of a few more students.

The 8th grader was almost wordless, with Yakko whispering "good find" to Bradley. The older teen huffed and leaned in close. "Just get this fixed, there's more than me that's mad about this." He said simply before walking away.

"Thanks Shannon." Bradley said with a light sigh of relief. "He looked ready to deck something."

"No prob, friend." Shannon responded, patting his back and sounding all optimistic again.

"It's actually good you're here, cause we're actually about to wrap this up." Bradley added.

"Oh I didn't know it was Christmas!" Wakko said with an excited tone, bringing out a wrapped mallet from behind him. Bradley assured him it wasn't that kind of "wrap".

"You're about to find out who took those toons?" Shannon asked with a hushed tone as they went to their lockers. "Good, I already miss going to that place."

"Yeah, and I honestly don't know what'll happen. And I want you to come with me." Bradley suggested.

"You sure that it's a good idea?" Shannon said. "They're not gonna let me in."

"So? You can come with me, just ask your parents if you can hang out." Bradley suggested with a little smile, the Warners listening in close.

"Well if you're super sure about it, I suppose it won't hurt." Shannon said after a moment. "And I'm sorry if I doubted you being friends with those three." She added, pointing to the Warners who were listening, zipping back and whistling innocently with hands behind their backs. "From the looks of things, you all seem really happy together."

"Thanks, that really means a bunch to me." Bradley said with a happier expression.

"And us, it's not often we hear good things about us." Yakko said with a little chuckle.

"Ain't that the truth." Bradley said with crossed arms, the Warners grinning at that as if proud.

"Well either way, I'll see ya later." Shannon said as she got her stuff and closed her locker, heading to class. Bradley nods and did the same, the siblings following him.

 _Lunchtime_

Bradley sat down with Rick and Stan as usual, with the Warners hiding in his backpack. He told them to keep a low profile this time after the encounter with that 8th grader before, much to their chagrin.

"So you told her?" Stan asked, leaning in after his lunch was almost done.

"Yeah, she's coming with us too." Bradley said in response, about halfway done with his.

"Seems fair, we'll need as much help as we can get." Rick said with a tone of understanding, his food already done. "But how's she gonna get into Toontown with you?"

"I got a plan, it's simple, but it'll work. I promise it will." Bradley assured them. "Juuuuust gonna exploit a little loophole..."

Stan just sighed a little. "Still though, we're really close to the end, aren't we? We know where they are, why can't we give them what for?"

"Cause Bradley needs to find out why Bendy did all that. And we don't even know what he looks like, we don't have any pictures. Just a map to where he MIGHT be." Rick explained.

Stan grumbled and hit his hand on the table a little hard. "You know I really don't like it when you're right sometimes, when you put it that way." He said, hiding a tone of anger in his voice.

"Hmm, someone's getting fired up, you got any water in this bag kid?" Yakko asked from in the backpack, making it shake.

Bradley shook his head. "No, sorry."

"It's okay, we'll make our own water. Wakko, think of all your favorite foods!" Dot said.

Bradley just rolled his eyes and smiled a little, looking back to the other two. "Only if their explanation isn't good enough." He said to Stan, assuring him he'd get to hit something soon enough. "But this is really big stuff here. We can't screw this up or else those toons are just gonna get taken again. I don't know how long we got before everything else gets snatched up while we're gone."

"We can't, not after all that trouble!" Rick said worriedly.

"It won't happen, we got a lot of help." Bradley said with a smirk. "Like Things 1, 2 and 3 in there."

"Hey, we resent that! We can rock the blue hair a lot better than them!" Yakko said when the three siblings popped out of the backpack wearing blue wigs.

"I know you can." Bradley said with a snicker.

 _After school, about 3 PM_

Shannon had told her parents that she'd be hanging out with friends, so they let her go as long as she was back by dinner. Rick and Stan said they'd be in Toontown shortly too. She joins the others in Bradley's mom's van and gets in the empty seat in the middle. While the Warners talked and had their usual games while Shannon just looked confused at most of it, Bradley saw the Toontown tunnel approaching while they drove into it. "Please work, please work..." He mumbled quietly to himself as they drove through.

Soon enough, they were all back in the Warner Movie Lot, with the teen looking back to see Shannon was still there. He sighed in relief, thankful the loophole worked as they drove up to the admin building. The cat was waiting for them at the door, smiling and twirling his cane.

"Well well, I see you brought your new friend with you." The suited feline said when he saw Shannon in the middle seat. She waves at the cat in response.

"Yeah, I figured why not?" Bradley said when he got out of the van, walking over. "I wanted her to come see this."

"So he does like her!" Yakko said with the other Warners chanting: "You like her, you like her!". Bradley rolled his eyes and Shannon shushed them, the brothers and sister snickering.

"Anyways, this is it, huh?" Bradley said with a little sigh. "We know where they are, all that's left is to go there."

"Indeed." The feline said with a nod, pulling out a pieced together map to where Bendy would be. "We'll finally get our answers." He added as he pocketed it.

Mom however, was apprehensive. "It's still gonna be really nerve-wracking though. It's not Bradley's first time into something like this, but it's still making me really worried for him." She said with a little frown.

Bradley looked back to Mom and walks over to her. "Hey, I'll be fine, I promise. I got a lot of friends with me and you know I always try my best." He said with a little smile at her.

Soon after, Rick and Stan came in through the tunnel and joined the others. "SO!" Stan shouted. "We heading there to give that devil what for or what?"

"Stan, he said we're not here to hurt them, I'll keep saying it if I have to." Rick said right after to divert Stan's thinking. "Now how're we all gonna fit in the van?"

The Warners got an idea and got a button out to press, changing the van from human-made to toony once again. Mom and Shannon inside shrieked in surprise when it changed inside and out with her in it. "You gotta tell me when you do that!" Mom yelled.

"But it's more fun when it's a surprise!" Dot said happily.

"And since when were people ever excited by someone telling them ahead of time?" Yakko said with crossed arms, smirking.

"Well at least it looks bigger on the inside." Bradley said, opening the door.

"Like our dear hearts?" Dot said with her hand on her chest.

"Our brains?" Yakko added pointing to his head.

"Our stomachs?" Wakko said right after, patting his belly.

"We'll... Just go with all three." Bradley said with a little laugh, entering the toony van along with everyone else. Everyone got comfy and the seatbelts fastened themselves around the people that entered. "Ready everyone?"

The others gave varying degrees of "YEAH" to "I guess", the latter coming from Shannon. She was a little nervous about what they were about to do. "This is a good idea, right?" The human girl said.

"Honestly, I have no idea. It's the best I got." Bradley said with a shrug.

"Hey, that's what we think all the time!" Yakko said with a bright expression.

 _At the unknown location, 3:30 PM_

The toon van made very good time with its speed and with the others following their map, as well as with the feline's lessons in controlling it that he gave to Mom on the fly. The Warners all yelped and cheered with each big turn they made while the humans held on for dear life and clung to the seats they were sitting at.

It didn't help Bradley's nervousness either, not knowing what'd he end up meeting when they got there. It didn't last long though when they finally reached the place. It looked like a very-much-abandoned animation studio, like the ones they were at in Toontown. After all the humans caught their breath, Bradley stepped out and the others soon followed. Shannon and Rick looked very dizzy and took longer to recover from that trip as well.

"So, this is it huh?" Bradley said, looking at the run-down place.

"It's another animation studio, but..." The feline started. "It looks very decrepit. Seems like it hasn't been kept up with for decades. I'm surprised it's still able to stand."

"But that's where Bendy is, huh?" The human teen said as the group walked closer to it. "Do you know what it is?"

"Not a clue, my friend." The cat said a moment later. "It must be something very little known that I haven't gotten to yet. Either that or some toons wanted to make their own place out of the way."

"Well it looks gross." Shannon said with crossed arms. "Look at all those splotches on the walls, is that... Ink?"

"Bleh..." Rick said to himself when that was pointed out to him.

"Looks like our fingerpainting portraits." Yakko said with a critiquing tone.

"At least they put their works of art right on where they live, that's something." Dot added with a complimenting voice herself.

Bradley sighs gently as they reached the front door, opening it slowly. Soon, there was an eerie whistling echoing through the halls.

"Where's the Ghostbusters when you need them?" Yakko pointed out as they walked.

"Hello hello, come on in!" A mysterious voice said over the intercom. "I'm very glad you could find this place, you're so close to finishing our game!"

The Warners uttered a little "ooh" at the idea of a game, but Bradley shushed them. "I don't think it's a fun kind of game." He said with a quieter voice.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not far, just beyond the next door, and the next and the next!" The voice said with a laugh.

"Oh, we're really not gonna go on another maze search like last time right?" Stan said with an annoyed tone.

"Don't worry my friend, just follow my buddies and we'll get to meeting each other reeeeeeal soon!" The voice said in response before cutting off.

"So are we playing hide and seek?" Wakko asked. "I love that game, we're the champions of hiding!"

"You should see all our medals for seeking too." Yakko added onto it.

Bradley chuckles softly. "Later, but now we need to find where that voice came from." Bradley said. "Stay cautious everyone..."

The Warners looked at each other and nodded, spinning around and getting into ninja suits. "Cautious is our middle name." Yakko said with a hushed voice.

"Wasn't it 'Amblin'?" Dot asked.

"As far as you know." The older sibling said with a smirk under the ninja mask he had on.

With that, the group walked through the halls, seeing the occasional suits. But instead of rushing them, the suits acted friendly and guided them on their way. "This way", "over there", they said every so often as they pointed out the directions.

"So what do you think we're gonna see when we get there?" Mom said.

"I... really don't know." Bradley responded, sounding a little nervous. "I mean we read what he looked like in the book, but this'll be the first time we could see him."

"Indeed, we won't know what we'll be up against." The cat said, gripping his cane a little tightly. "I just hope that our Bradley's idea of talking to him will actually work.

Shannon looked the most nervous, especially in being in a weird place like this abandoned studio. "Is what you're looking for really in here?" She said finally.

"Feels like we're gonna se a Slimer cameo in here." Yakko said, the Warners figuring sneaking wasn't needed and back in their normal clothing.

Soon there were two suits in front of the last door leading into a big part of the studio, which looked like it wasn't a part of the main building at all. They just gave neutral expressions and held the door handles, ready to open on command.

"So, do we send him into the fray alone or do we go with?" The feline said. The Warners peeked out from the backs of Stan, Rick and Mom.

"Oh, send the human in first, I want to see if he's really understanding enough first!" The voice over the intercom said.

Bradley looks behind him at the group. "Well, there's your answer." The teen said with a chuckle. "Just keep an ear out just in case, okay?"

"Sure! You can borrow ours!" Wakko said, detatching one ear off and giving it to Bradley. The human snickered and shook his head. "That'll be fine." He said, looking at the others before hugging Mom.

Mom hugged back in response right away. "Good luck in there." She said simply.

Bradley nods, looking at Rick and Stan. "You got this, man." Stan said, resting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

Bradley smiles in response. "Thanks, really." He said before looking to the Warners.

"I know, I know, we're gonna do the mopey routine and quote Braveheart to inspire the confidence, but we'll just say this to save on the budget." Yakko said. "We really hope you know what you're doing, kid."

Bradley nods and smiles, giving them all a hug. That surprised them since they usually pounce, quite literally, at the chance to give their special friends one. "I will, I'll just try to wing it like you do." He said with a chuckle.

Then Bradley looked over to Shannon. "I don't want you to go, but looks like everyone trusts ya." She said with a huff. "You really do have good friends, huh?"

"Well I try." Bradley said with a little smile, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well you definitely look like you succeeded." Shannon said in response. "Keep it that way, okay?"

Bradley nods, shaking her hand. "Yup, as long as I can."

"And as long as there's more seasons to show it!" The three Warners said in unison happily. The human teen smirked at that and soon turns around to the door.

"Well, here we go. Let me in." Bradley said to the suits. They nod and pull open the door. Inside was something that looked the inkiest of them all. The group gave a last look at Bradley before the doors closed. While the teen looked around, he saw some suits here or there, along with a balcony on the top.

"Ah, my dear human, welcome to my humble home!" The voice said, only it wasn't over an intercom, it was like they were really in the same room. Bradley looked up at the balcony, seeing a figure smirking, but mostly hidden in shadow up there. That didn't last long though as it hopped down to the ground. Bradley looked on and saw the figure in full, the horn-like head, pie eyes, black form dripping with ink occasionally, and that grin. That big toothy grin that usually indicates fun to be had.

Bradley looked on as the figure stood up, clearing his throat. "Are you Bendy?"

The figure held his smile as he bounced up into the air. "Yessir, that's me! Glad you could finally get here! Did you like my game?"

"Game? Oh, right, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." Bradley said, doing his best to play along.

"Oh really? Well why don't you play another game with me and I'll tell ya?" Bendy said, looking eager to play. "Tag me if you can!" He said as he started running. Bradley tilted his head curiously. "Don't worry, my suit friends won't get in the way, just catch me!" Bendy said before turning a corner. Bradley goes along with it, hoping to get some answers when they were done.

* * *

 _Author's note: Alright, motivation feels like it's back, so we could finish this up soon. We'll have answers in the next chapters, promise!_


	11. Finding a Friend in All That Ink

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _Toontown outskirts, at the unknown animation studio, 4 PM_

Bradley was running through the halls of the studio, following the inky footprints left behind by Bendy. He ran as hard as he was able in trying to catch him until the footprints ran out.

"Where'd he go..." The human mumbled to himself, looking side to side.

Bendy popped up behind him. "Peek-a-Boo! Gotta be faster than that!" He said as he ran off again.

Bradley grumbled a bit and ran off again, trying to get faster. Running wasn't working, so he tried throwing down his toon hole when Bendy jumped up to the balcony, popping up in front of him and tapping his head with a smirk. "Got ya!"

"Oh, so you know how to use our stuff? Not bad." Bendy said with a smirk. "Now try again without it!" He added, snatching the hole away before jumping off and running again while he laughed.

"Hey!" Bradley shouted, hopping off as well and rolling out of the landing, following those inky footprints and getting frustrated.

 _Outside the door_

The group could hear noises coming from the room they were in. "What in toon's name are they doing in there?" The suited feline said.

"Didn't that book say he'd be mischievous or something like that?" Rick said. "Maybe he's giving Brad a hard time..."

"Ah, the ink never falls far from the pen then." The feline said.

"Hey, I was gonna say that!" Yakko said with a huff. "Taking my good lines like that..."

"Sorry, next time I'll let you say it." The suited toon cat said with a smirk.

"Yeah, you better." Yakko said with a huff again, but knew they were joking. "You're not the one with top billing."

"You get the most anyway cause you're the oldest." Dot pointed out.

"I thought it was you cause you're the cutest." Wakko said.

"Hmph! No one can deny I'm the cutest thing anyone's ever seen! Anyone else wanting that job's waiting over in the ER." Dot responded with a hand to her chest, all proud and haughty. The other brothers let out a groan in response.

"Well we should still keep an ear out, who knows what's going on in there." Shannon said. The toons agreed, leaning in to press their ears to the door. Since they weren't trying to actively get in, the suits guarding it didn't do anything to stop them yet.

 _Back inside_

While that was going on, Bradley tried some new tricks to maintain momentum to catch Bendy. He ducked and slid on the inky floors, kicked off the walls during said slides and so on while the devil toon kept on running and hopping, spinning around the occasional support beam. "Wheeee!" Bendy exclaimed happily. "Come on, I'm not that slippery am I?"

Bradley kept an eye on Bendy as best he could, at least keeping him in a big room he chased him to and using that momentum to leap for him. He narrowly slipped through the human's grasp more than once, but he didn't just give up. "Come on, you could keep up with those other friends of yours, I should be a piece of pie!" Bendy said.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Bradley asked as he kept running, getting tired.

"Oh, my own friends here tell me a lot of things." Bendy responded, flipping once after a last big leap before landing right in front of the human. "How do you think one of them told you the game I had planned when you managed to take them?"

Bradley slowly recovered his stamina and breathed slowly to get his energy back from all that running. "Besides, it looked like a lot of fun anyway." Bendy said, the excitement building in his voice. "A big Toontown car chase, fishing hooks, William Tell Overture music, danger all around? It just made me more excited to get to see you in person!" He added and hopped over Bradley's head.

Bradley watched him go over as he tried and failed again to catch him. "Well why did you want to see me then?" He said curiously, panting a bit more before finally resorting to normal breathing when he recovered.

"Gotta catch me and then I'll tell ya!" Bendy said as he spun around the support beams, laughing along the way and having his fun at Bradley's expense.

Bradley was getting more aggravated and tried to come up with an idea to catch him. He looked down at his shoes and got an idea, reaching into his hammerspace jeans pockets. After feeling around for various items like his phone and other gags he packed in there, he finally found some springs. He smirked and put them on the bottom of his shoes and started hopping around to catch up with Bendy. The devil toon yelped as Bradley had the idea to bounce from wall to wall, confusing Bendy before the human reached out far, enough to grab his wrist to bring him down.

"Hyah!" Bradley screamed out as they landed back on the ground, taking the springs off with his other hand to put them back in his pockets. "Got ya, again! Now tell me why we're here!" He said, getting annoyed.

Bendy smirked and slid right out thanks to his abnormal inkiness. "Hm... I think you certainly proved yourself to keep up, let's walk and I'll tell ya, promise!" Bendy said, heading down one of the halls as if that chase of theirs never happened. Bradley sighed a bit, but followed closely.

"The reason why I wanted to see you was because... Well, you're such an odd case!" Bendy started now that things calmed down. "You're human yet you live with toons. Yet not just with toons, some of the craziest toons ever put to paper! You saved a town full of things you never thought could actually exist, I wanted to see that magic happen again!"

"And with doing that, you kidnapped all sorts of toons and almost broke that trust between them and us?" Bradley said with crossed arms.

"Oh, is that what was happening?" Bendy said, looking downward. "I just thought it'd be a good test for your limits, I didn't know that'd end up happenin' too. But you got your friends, so that's why I set up all that stuff in those studios!"

"A puzzle test?" Bradley said right after. "No wonder it needed a group to solve. And yeah, I have good friends, I'm proud to be with them."

"Yup, and honestly I'm kind of jealous about it." Bendy said, stopping. Bradley stopped shortly after, looking down at him. "Do you know why I'm out here and not in Toontown?"

"Not really..." Bradley said, leaning on a nearby wall. "Why ARE you way out here?"

Bendy looked around. "Hmm... Not here." He walks to an elevator, urging Bradley to follow with a "C'mon!".

 _Back with the group_

As they descended, the group outside could finally enter the room when they heard nothing else, the suit given permission to once they were gone.

"Where'd they go?" Mom said as they looked all over.

"They must've entered somewhere different." The unnamed cat said. "Perhaps a different room or an elevator, since I picked up a whirring noise."

"Oh, that's Wakko's blender, he was making a smoothie." Yakko said.

Wakko puts the blender behind his back. "Sorry, I got thirsty." He said with a bashful smile.

"Well that's a new one." Dot said, crossing her arms.

"Well come on, we gotta go after them!" Rick said, looking for the elevator or a vent or anything to sneak through.

 _In the elevator_

"If you really oughta know..." Bendy said as the elevator creaked and descended. "I'm honestly a bit ashamed. Ashamed that the person that created me wasn't, you know, right."

"Right how? Who was it?" Bradley asked.

"I really don't wanna say their name." The devil toon said softer, looking away as he dripped ink on the floor of the elevator. "When the toons found out and saw me, they just wouldn't look at me after that. Nothing's worse than a lonely and sad Toon you know." He explained, poofing up a thought bubble for them to see.

"Any time I tried to talk to them or show them a trick to show off or get attention, they just left and kept talking to themselves." Bendy explained. One trick he tried to show them was juggling and another was whistling a tune, almost like what the group heard when they entered the studio. But the groups of toons did their own thing and ignored the thought-Bendy. He definitely looked better back then, without all the dripping ink on the ground.

"Maybe I wasn't that well-known yet, but a 'hi' wouldn't have hurt! Much." Bendy said. "So I turned to pranking but things ended up getting worse. My only other friends ended up leaving as well cause I may have gone, you know, overboard with some of them." Bendy continued, two shadows appearing in the thought bubble. They looked like an angel and a wolf shape, and they turned and walked away, fading shortly after.

"Sure I got a few cartoons out of it and an amusement park, but things still went wrong." Bendy added, the elevator stopping and the thought bubble popping and disappearing. "Soon enough I stopped being maintained, and had to keep up with myself on my own. All this dripping ink didn't happen back then." He said as he lifted his arm, dripping more ink off it as an example. The elevator door opened shortly after.

"So if you don't have any more friends, how come you have all these suits around? What was your plan with kidnapping all the new toons?" Bradley asked, hoping to get some real answers.

Bendy managed a little chuckle. "I'll show you." He said as he left the elevator. Bradley followed him down into a hallway, soon coming across a little machine on the side.

"What's this?" Bradley asked, looking at it.

"Oh, that's what makes ink into lots of shapes." Bendy said, perking up. He dripped some ink into it and turned it on, twisting the dial to a ball-shape. Soon enough, a ball came out the bottom, bouncing a little. "Cool, huh?"

Bradley nods a little, picking the ball up and looking over it. "The coolest, for sure." He said with approval, and to Bendy's happiness.

"Wanna play catch then while we walk? Bendy asked, looking eager for a positive answer.

Bradley thought a moment before nodding, smiling back at him. "Sure."

 _Back with the group_

"I'm sorry, but you can't get in the elevator, you're gonna have to wait." One of the suits blocking it said when the others found it.

"That's our friend down there, we gotta make sure he's okay!" Shannon said urgently.

"We said no!" The suit shouted. "Now stay back until they return." He added in a calmer tone.

Shannon grumbled in annoyance, walking back to the others around the corner. "Now how're we gonna get down there?"

"Little do ye know you're talking to the masters of outwitting, missy." Yakko said in one of his accents, bringing his other siblings in close. "So, are we bringing out Operation Telegram?" He whispered.

The other two siblings nodded. "Oh, I love that game!" Wakko said with a happy tone.

After another moment, Yakko and Dot were in disguise, dressed up as mailmen with mustaches and uniforms and everything. "Telegram!" Yakko said, handing said slip of paper to the suit.

"What's this... A present for our friend? What is it?" The suit said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, we just assumed they'd love this nice little gift. Paula Deen worked overtime to make this just for them!" Dot said as Yakko went back and wheeled in a giant cake, easily as tall as the suit.

"Hmm, impressive." The suit said.

"Ohhhh, wait until you taste it. Wanna sample before we wheel it in?" Yakko offered. The suit nodded and leaned in close.

Just as he was about to take a bit of the frosting, Wakko jumped out of the top of the cake, mallet in hand! "Surprise!" He said before bringing the hammer down, stars showering off the impact spot and knocking the suit out cold.

"No wonder you love that plan." Yakko said to the middle sibling, who soon ate the whole cake in one bite and belched.

The others heard the commotion and peeked around. "Are we good?" The feline said. The siblings nodded and gave thumbs ups. "Alright, let's head down." He added, the others following closely.

"Is this thing gonna even fit all of us?" Stan said as the elevator was called up.

"Just don't bounce in it, dude." Shannon said as a warning. They all bunched up and the elevator creaked, soon going downwards.

 _In the lower floors_

"I can only entertain myself with pranking and showing tricks to those things for so long." Bendy said as they were playing catch with the newly-created ball, tossing it back to Bradley and vice-versa as they walked. "One of the reasons I took those toons was that I thought I could play with them, so they can actually see that I'm just a normal Toon like them." Bradley raised an eyebrow at "normal" when he caught the ball. "You know what I mean." He added, with the human tossing it in the air towards the toon again who easily leapt and caught it too. "But then I heard you were rescuing them and I didn't expect it, so I decided to make another game out of it."

"A game out of taking toons, huh?" Bradley said with a soft sigh.

"I haven't gotten to that part yet! Geez." Bendy said with crossed arms after tossing the ball at Bradley, hitting his arm. He rubbed it a little and picked the ball up, apologizing before resuming their came of walking catch.

"Don't worry 'bout it. Anyways, they were just toons no one's heard of yet, recently made with nothing attached to them yet. No show, no movie, no game, nothing. Fresh off the paper! I thought those were best because..." The devil-toon thought for a moment. "Because they haven't had any big plans for them yet. They haven't known anyone to be disappointed by. I guess I didn't want any of them to end up like me, or take that kind of risk of being forgotten or dropped or anything like that." He said with a sigh, holding the ball in his hand this time.

Bradley listened on with a little frown. In a way he could understand why: Bendy didn't want the same thing to happen to them like what happened to him. He wanted some friends back but thanks to whoever made him, he was basically ostracized. "Well, I could've been your friend if you came out and wanted to." Bradley said.

Bendy softly sighed. "I don't know... I was just so caught up in-" He started before he gasped. "Something just went dark." He said before hearing the elevator whirring. "Grr, my friend's knocked out, they're coming!"

"Then hurry, what did you want to show me?" Bradley said. Bendy said nothing, just grabbing his hand and running to the big door, dropping the ball that was in his other hand. They went through and the door closed while the group left the elevator, following the inky footprints with the Warners in detective suits and magnifying glasses taking the lead.

"Whew... Anyways..." Bendy started again. "Do you know why those suits look alike? Why they look real like humans?" Bradley nods, then the toon uncovered what looked like a machine, then hopped up on the top. "I present to you, my ink machine! Works better than that smaller one by a country mile with interest!" Bendy said, sounding proud. It had a big nozzle on the front and ran with so many pipes on the bottom, as well as a barrel on the top.

Bradley immediately remember that one of the suits dripped something off their arm when they were questioning him, letting in a gasp. "You mean those suits are-"

"Yup, ink and toony like me, like that cat, and like your other inkblot friends. With a little drip or two from me." Bendy said as he turned a dial or two and kicked the thing. "And with a box of masks laying around of course. I just teach them the basics and off they go." He added, making the machine chug with another turn of the dial. "As for why I'm dripping, I use this to put ink back into me too. I've been doing it so long myself, it doesn't stay... I never really knew how to stay, you know... Stable. I still haven't got the settings right on this thing..." Bendy said as he walked around the machine. "But with all this dripping, it's easy to, you know, put a bit of myself into each one. We're all connected in a sort of way." He added, with Bradley listening in silence as he crossed his arms.

"Look, the big part of my plan was to have them think the humans' side of those studios and companies took them for themselves, saying that they owned them. It was gonna get so confusing and fun to watch on who owned what." The devil toon said with a giggle of glee.

"But... You weren't really gonna... With those taken toons?" Bradley assumed.

Bendy looked at him with slight disdain. "Of course not, we still got more than enough ink here!"

The human immediately apologized. "Sorry, sorry!" He said in a rush. "Gotta stop jumping to conclusions..." He mumbled to himself.

"It's fine, I can understand why with showing you this." Bendy added, his expression relaxing. "But honestly, it hasn't been the same. I've been trying to tinker with this in going to various places. Like in that factory in the human world, all over Toontown and stuff." He said as he removed the nozzle and closed it off. "You've seen those three siblings in different time periods on their show, right? Yeah, I keep up occasionally." The devil toon assured him. "I've been trying to make this thing do that too, putting in other stuff than just ink. I can't just learn it, you either have it or don't."

Bradley understood now, especially after hearing that story before. "You want to go back, don't you. Back to before you ended up like this. Like a second chance?" He said.

"Yeah, but this thing's always been janky." Bendy said, kicking the machine again. "Leaking, clunking, I don't know how to completely fix it myself. Think of this as my big project, my last big game, learning my own rules no less! I think it could be almost ready too!" The toon said with a smile at him again, hopping up and pouring something in. "Oh, I need to get something, be right back." He said a little fast as he walked somewhere to find it.

Bradley watched him and sat down on a box. He almost felt sorry for Bendy, just wanting friends but having reaching down to something desperate like taking them to get them. He had no idea what happened when he was made, but he assumed if it was that bad that he had to go back and fix it, he didn't know whether to stop him to give him another chance or let him do his thing.

Not long after, Bendy got his object, pocketing it in his own hammerspace behind him. "What was that you got?" Bradley asked.

"Oh, we'll leave that a surprise. It's not anything hurtful if you're still worried about that." Bendy assured him, soon getting a ladder. "Listen, Brad... I didn't mean to make Toontown worried. I just wanted to have a little fun again, and I thought the new toons wouldn't be, you know... Missed that much. And I was worried that the worst would happen to them too, even the big ones made mistakes, just look at Woody Woodpecker."

Bradley sighed lightly. "Well they did worry." He said as he walked over to the toon. "Toontown always needs new toons to keep living. They can't all just have the same old toons again. What you did almost broke up the toons and humans after trying to build up that trust."

"But what if they all get forgotten like me? Or even be brought back as a monster or something even more hated?" Bendy said worriedly. "Aren't you worried that could happen too?"

"It's a risk they all take when they're made. Even the Warners took that risk too, and they were brought back as something even better." Bradley said. "Just cause something bad hasn't happened to them yet doesn't mean it won't happen. But it's just a part of life like how everyone lives. You gotta look at the good parts like I do too. Without those new toons, Toontown and all these other places in this world turn to nothing. You just gotta let them grow, let them learn their own way."

Bendy sighed a little after a moment of thought. "I know, I was just really worried cause I didn't get that chance. You sure about all of that, even if other toons may not get a chance either?"

The human gave a little nod, smiling and clearing his throat again. "Of course. Nothing and no one is perfect. Not me, not my friends. But the best thing is just to let it happen and learn from it. But you still want to fix what happened with you at least, don't you? Even if you don't know if it'll work?"

The devil-toon nods in response, walking away. "I need the proper chance I couldn't get. I'm not out of ideas yet, ya know."

Bradley shrugs a little. "If you're really sure..." He said, sounding a little worried.

"I am sure. Give or take 10 percent." Bendy said with a little giggle. "Now just to pour this in..." He said as he got a jug of very old paint, but soon there was some knocking on the door.

"Ah jeez, not again!" Bendy said with a groan. "Bradley, please, they can't take me now! If you really wanna be my friend, then don't let them take me away from this!"

"Hello dear, you in there?" The voice of Mom said.

"Come on, open the door man!" Stan said.

"Should we do the telegram trick again? We got a spare cake after all!" The voice of Wakko sounded too.

"No, we're here to give back the ball we found!" Yakko's voice said. "Or else we can use it to teach Wakko to play fetch."

"Please, I beg you..." Bendy said before running to hide behind the machine, chugging more and more. "It needs this last thing, then I'll be out of your hair for good, promise!"

Bradley thought a moment before Stan's voice rang out. "We're gonna run this door down if you don't open it, whatever you are!" He thought he deserved to answer for the stuff he did and almost caused Toontown to become all empty. But after hearing his story, now he feel like he'd betray him if he just did that. With a little grunt after leaving his thoughts on what to do, he goes to the closed door, looking behind him at the chugging machine Bendy was hiding behind before looking back to open that door.

"Jeez, there you are!" Stan said, the Warners bouncing in right after in boxing outfits.

"Where is he, lemme at 'em!" Yakko said, throwing a punch or two at the air along with Wakko. Stan smirked and let out a "heh" when he saw it, they had the right idea according to him.

"Calm down, it's fine." Bradley said with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head.

"So, where's this Bendy guy?" Stan said. "We gotta make him answer what for!"

Rick sighed and nudged him. "Will you stop it already? Anyways, did you talk to him?" He asked Bradley.

The teen nods in response. "Yeah, I did." The Warners noticed the inkiness on his shirt and pants disappearing.

"Got into a scuffle of your own, huh?" Dot said. "Look at ya, all smudgy before your headshots."

"Yeah, you don't rock the ink look and even your clothes know it." Yakko said with Bradley looking down at them. He didn't even know, but he was thankful for his toon-woven threads absorbing it like that.

"Anyways, guys!" Shannon shouted before they got off on a tangent.

"And girl." Dot quipped before the human girl could say another word.

"Yes, and girl." Shannon added, rolling her eyes. "What did you two talk about?"

Bradley sighed a little and did his best to explain. "Honestly? Bendy just needed someone to not be alone anymore."

"WHAT?" Stan shouted, now full-blown angry. "That was it?!"

"Well hold on, hold on!" Bradley yelled back to bring Stan back down. Meanwhile, Bendy slowly got the jug and started to quietly climb up the chugging machine.

"Yes, let's hear what he has to say." The cat said. "What did you find out?"

"Well you know all the suits we saw in town?" Bradley said. "They were all made by this thing here." He said as he pointed to the ink machine, making Bendy freeze. He wasn't about to sell him out, was he?

"A-ha... This I haven't seen for a while." The cat said with a curious expression, walking closer. "It looks incredibly ill-taken care of however. It's chugging constantly and... Is it getting louder?"

Shannon walked over while the cat was investigating. "I don't think that's worth touching." She warned. Behind the machine, Bendy felt relieved that he wasn't mentioned yet, taking a risk and climbing up a little more to the barrel full of ink, the machine's shaking making him grip tight to not fall off it.

"Oh don't mind me. Bradley, continue." The cat said.

"Thanks. Anyways..." Bradley continued. "He wanted attention no one else wanted to give him when he was made. He wouldn't tell me who or what did make him, but it looked like it kind of hurt him to talk about it. He made all the suits, but he wanted actual people and toons to talk to." He said, his tone growing a little softer.

"Aww, it's like if we were villains!" Yakko said. "How charming."

"I already told him why that was wrong." Bradley said as Bendy continued climbing up the machine, almost at the top. "I think he was misunderstood is all. He wants to go back, before all that ignoring and actually make friends again or find his old ones, whatever comes first, rather than just make them for real with this machine."

"Well that's all well and good dear." Mom finally said. "But do you know where he went off to?"

That was when the teen froze this time. It took him a good 5 seconds, with Bendy silently hoping he wouldn't out him. "He... He told me he had to get something for his machine." Bradley finally said, voice cracking a little at "machine".

"Hmm, is the puberty kicking in?" Wakko said, poking Bradley's side. "I hope he's not breaking!"

The feline hummed and looked at the dials while Bendy silently sighed in relief when he finally reached the top of the barrel, looking into the container full of ink. The suited cat thought he heard something, his ear flicking.

"So where'd he get off to really?" Stan asked.

"You're not beating him up." Bradley said, almost defiantly. "He wanted friends, not someone to fight.

"So? How else is he supposed to answer for taking all these toons?" Stan shouted a bit louder, getting angry.

"I never realized you cared that much for us." Dot said. The Warners soon chanted "He likes us, he likes us!", dancing around him in a circle.

"I do not!" Stan shouted, finding it hard to swing at them.

"SHUSH!" The cat soon said to the group. "We're not alone."

Bendy froze again before he got to pour the paint into the barrel. "Well we're all here, so of course we're not alone." Bradley stated.

"Well if that ain't clever." Yakko said with crossed arms. Stan couldn't help but to agree, and Shannon also nodded.

"No, not us." The cat said, slowly looking around the machine. Bendy shimmied a little to the side, but the cat kept on looking around slowly, about to corner him.

Bradley ran over to the cat. "Um, I think we've done enough looking, he already said what he was gonna do to fix this and it didn't involve any more toon-napping." He said as he pulled the suited toon away from the machine. Its chugging only got louder. "Let's go before this thing gets dangerous."

"Why?" Shannon asked.

"Yeah, you're acting odd now Bradley." Rick said, and Mom agreed.

"Is there something you're not really telling us?" The cat said.

Bradley searched for the right words to say, but was struggling. He stammered a little, and Bendy had enough. He was trying so hard to hide him, but he was so close to breaking, he couldn't stand it. So he finally popped up and stood above the barrel. "Brad, that's enough! You don't have to hide me anymore." The devil toon proclaimed.

The group looked up at him and gasped, finally seeing who the culprit was. "You're Bendy aren't ya?" Stan said. "Come on down, you're gonna-" He started, but Rick bapped the back of his head. "Ow! Hey!"

"Sorry, but you still won't stop saying that." Rick said.

"Shame, we would've gone bigger." Yakko said.

Bendy frowned at Stan's anger. "It's okay, I'll get out of your hair soon enough." He said as he got the jug of old paint and opened the cap.

"Please, don't hurt him, he wants to do this." Bradley said worriedly.

"Wait, we can fix this without him jumping in, we don't even know what it'll do." The feline said. "We can make them give him another chance, we won't say it was him that did it."

"Definitely, he can be our best special friend!" Wakko said happily.

"We can help him fit in with a misfit group like us!" Yakko added.

"And clean him up too, dripping black isn't a good look." Dot criticized.

Bendy sighed as the machine clunked and shook. "I know, I know, but it's too late here. The real way is to just start over and try again. I can't pop in through time like those three." He said, pointing to the Warner siblings. "So I have to make my own with my machine like with making everything else, tinkering until it's ready." He said, tipping the jug and starting to pour the paint in.

"Bradley, come on, stop him!" Stan shouted.

The teen just looked at him, still unsure. But he wasn't doing anything yet. But as the paint was poured in and Bendy pulled out the toon hole he took from Bradley from behind him, the machine sputtered even harder, making Bendy lose balance. The hole fell into the container and Bradley ran up to Bendy to jump and grab him before he fell inside. The others ran up and also grabbed Bradley to keep him from falling in too.

The whole jug fell in and mixed with the paint, the tainted mixture in the container starting to spiral and drain into a whirlpool, the toon hole it was draining into leading to who knows what.

"Don't worry, I got ya!" Bradley shouted over the rushing sounds of the swirling ink, holding onto Bendy's glove.

"And we got you too!" The Warners said as well, grabbing his ankles. The humans and the feline also formed a line holding each other to keep them grounded. The cat slammed his cane through the floor to anchor themselves further, with Bradley looking into the spiral before looking back to Bendy dangling.

"Please Bradley, let me go!" Bendy shouted. "I don't care where, when or how I end up! I need this!"

"No, bring him in, we can help him, like you helped- Gah! -Helped meeeee!" The cat said, grunting as they all held each other for support.

"Listen, you can't help everyone yourself Bradley, as much as you did in trying to find me." Bendy said, his gloved hand slipping from the human's.

"You don't even know what it'll do to you, is this worth it?" Bradley asked, panicked.

Bendy nods after a short moment. "I need to prove I can get through this myself." He said, the calmest of the bunch right now.

The chain of people started slipping, the Warners arms stretching slowly. "Brad, if you're gonna do anything to help, do it now!" Rick shouted.

"Let me go, Bradley." Bendy said simply, looking up at him. "Wherever I'll go, when I'll go or what it'll end up making me, I'll manage. If you want to be my friend, then trust me."

Bradley was torn between these two choices, what could he do? Trust the word of a toon that worked to kidnap the other toons for mischievious games, or of a toon that wanted friends that could've kept that from happening in the first place?

"Any time now, man!" Stan grunted out, feeling his strength starting to give out as they tried keeping the Warner siblings from sliding into the barrel too.

The teen closed his eyes, wanting to pull him up, but what if Bendy could be right? If not, it could turn out terrible in the long run. After a few more seconds, Bradley ultimately made his decision, opening his eyes.

"I... Alright... Alright, I trust you." Bradley said. "If you think this'll work, then I won't stop you!"

Bendy cracked a genuine smile at him, nodding. "And don't try and recreate or re-draw me. If it works, it wouldn't feel right."

"We won't, I promise." Bradley said with a smile back.

"Thank you." Bendy said, just fingers holding on now. "Thank you for listening, playing with me and for believing me. I'm glad I got to meet you, even if I may not remember you by the time this is over."

"Same here, Bendy. Same here." Bradley said with a nod, fighting back a tear or two.

Bendy closed his eyes and held that toothy grin, then whistled his tune once again. He kept whistling as Bradley let his grip slip at last after a couple more seconds. He watched as Bendy whistled on his way down, the ink and paint mixture soon washing over him entirely. Not one trace of him could be seen anymore. Bradley was left sad, his hand still open and reaching with the faint, vain hope that he could still catch him despite being too far now.

The cat grunted loudly and pulled along with the humans to get the others out, the Warners and Bradley landing back on the floor. Just as quickly, Shannon twisted some dials and ended up turning the machine off, the whirlpool immediately stopping and the container drained and empty.

Bradley panted softly and held his chest. "Gah... Jeez, is everyone fine?" He said as he got up.

"Define 'fine'..." Stan said, getting up too.

"Hold on, I think I have that bookmarked." Yakko said as he flipped through the pages of a dictionary.

While that happened, Bradley looked inside the container and saw it was completely empty of anything other than the pipes, the toon hole also now completely gone. No trace of Bendy anywhere either. Looks like he'll need a new toon hole now...

"Why didn't you pull him up?" The cat said, huffing softly and looking slightly peeved.

"He wanted to fix his own mistakes, even if it could've ended up losing himself. He was just that focused, whether it was to find his friends or go back to the beginning, whatever could've made him happy." Bradley said. He said both, but wasn't sure if Bendy could really accomplish both. He wasn't even sure if his friends would be happy to see him...

"Well, Plotz isn't going to like this at all with no culprit." The cat said.

"No, he'll probably yell at all of us." Mom responded with a nod.

"Who's that?" Shannon said, all tired now.

"We'll get there when we get there." Bradley said after, clearing his throat.

"Ah-ha! There's our word!" Yakko said, with Wakko and Dot crowding around to read it. "Yes Wakko, those are indeed words." He assured the middle sibling.

"Well either way, seems like everything's all wrapped up." Rick said, starting to head for the door.

The others soon followed, seeing puddles of ink and masks where the suits used to be. "Guess they couldn't hold together after losing their leader." The feline stated.

"Bleh..." Shannon mumbled as they walked past.

As they left the run-down studio, Bradley looked at it one last time. "Should we let this stay standing, in case he comes back through that machine?" Bradley asked himself.

Mom heard his question and walked back over to him. "It's up to you if you want to mention it to our CEO friend, honey."

Bradley thought for a moment longer, then shakes his head. "I don't think destroying where he was made would help anything. I just hope we'll be able to see him again."

"A good choice, Bradley." The suited feline said, gloved hand resting on his shoulder. "Tearing apart Toontown history of any kind would be a great crime in itself, no matter how small."

"Come on, we already called shotgun!" Yakko shouted to the humans and cat toon, all grouped in the front seat of the van, still toonified.

Mom already rushed to them to convince them to get in the other back seats while the others headed back in the van and strapped in, Bradley in the front while the others got in the other seats behind them.

Shannon leans in, hand on the human's shoulder. "You gonna be fine there?" She asked.

Bradley nods in response, giving a little smile. "Yeah... Yeah, I'll be fine." He said, with Shannon smiling back as they drove back to the WB studio. It was almost over...

* * *

 _Author's Note: Almost done, just the epilogue left now!_


	12. Epilogue

_Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either._

* * *

 _Back at the Warner Film Lot_

The group had driven back to the admin building after Rick and Stan were dropped off at the tunnel to walk back home. Bradley looked nervous however. He may not be ready for the screaming that'd come their way after all of this "behind their back" stuff, but the Warners seemed unfazed like it was just another day.

"Wonder how short Plotz's fuse'll be this time." Bradley said, sighing softly and feeling apprehensive.

"Do you want us to back you up?" The suited feline said as he stepped out the van.

"Yeah, we got your back, your front, your sides, top and bottom, we got 'em all!" Wakko said with a bright smile with the rest of his sibs.

Bradley smiles at their response, nodding a bit. "I can tell." He said as he looked back at the building. "Here we go... We'll be right back, okay?" He said to Shannon and Mom.

Shannon nodded in response. "Yeah, we'll see. Dunno what you're so tense about though." She said as she leaned on the van.

"Oh you have no idea." Bradley said with a laugh as he headed inside the admin building with the Warners and their feline friend.

Soon they reached Plotz's door and opened it, with Bradley entering first. It looked like he didn't notice yet, but that'd soon change with an uttered "Hello?" from the human teen.

"So where is he?" Plotz said simply, sitting in his chair.

"Oh man, you've got to hear this story!" Wakko said as he zipped over to the CEO, sounding excited.

"Yeah, not even the 'Enquirer' would believe it enough to print it!" Yakko added. "Unless you gave them $20 and a handshake." He added in a quieter mumble to Bradley.

"Hoooo, this should be good then." Plotz said.

Bradley then launched into an explanation about what they did and what happened. He figured it'd be best to come clean and tell him everything, from bringing Shannon into Toontown during its lockdown to actually getting into a talk with Bendy about his side of the story. He did his best to explain and the Warners also did their best to support what he said via slideshow and pictures as well. Even though half of them were crude drawings.

Plotz meanwhile looked like he was getting madder and madder, his face redder as the explanation went on. All he could hear was that they let Bendy get away. That this could now easily repeat itself in the future. But then Bradley said this: "He said he was trying to find his friends and that, well... It didn't matter where or when he ended up. When he fell in, I don't know where that thing could've taken him."

"Indeed, that portal in the machine didn't have a set exit point. Then again, we knew almost nothing about it." The cat said based on what little they knew. "Wherever or whenever he is now, it's not here anymore."

"But it doesn't really matter now, does it? He's gone, and we'll probably never see him again!" Plotz screamed. "We'll never get a confession out of him now!"

"Well he confessed to me. He felt bad about it, but he did it cause of the whole 'being isolated' thing everyone else gave him." Bradley said, trying not to scream back. "He said it was cause he was scared they may end up the same way as him, left alone and junk! Besides, all the toons are back, right?" He added with a frown, sighing soon after.

The CEO grumbled and pinched the top of his nose between his fingers briefly. "Well I suppose you're right... Without that teamwork you pulled off with those Warner kids and your other friends, it wouldn't have been possible." Plotz finally admitted after walking to the window, looking down at the studio.

"See? Everyone wins!" Bradley said.

"Our favorite kinds of outcomes of course." Yakko said with a bright smile of his own, leaning on Bradley's side suddenly like he was leaning casually on a wall.

"But regardless, he hasn't answered for what he tried to do! He tried to sever our trust with the humans, he tried turning our town into a ghost of its former self! All because he was afraid?" Plotz shouted, feeling confused.

"Yeah." Bradley said simply. "Cause he was scared. Scared because he thought there would be another one like him. Scared those new toons would end up not getting any kind of future."

Plotz looked like he was getting redder and redder the more they talked about this. "You really believe we'd put our toons through that on purpose?"

"You did it to the Warners before they broke out on their own. They did it to Bendy until he took matters into his own hands." Bradley responded. At this point he didn't seem like he cared, crossing his arms.

"Those were- I-" Plotz stammered and looked between the Warner siblings and the human teen, letting out an angry scream a couple of seconds later before heading to his desk, seemingly cornered. The Warners looked worried, especially when they ended up being brought into the conversation. "There's methods to that kind of madness. Those brats were gonna jeopardize us and everyone agreed, and those toons with Bendy did it on their own."

Bradley conceded that the CEO, to an extent, was right. He knew the history of the Warner Brothers and Sister at least, locked in the tower for everyone's safety until recently. "I know, I know... But Bendy was driven to this cause no one gave him a chance. He said they kept not even looking at him. What's a toon to do to get noticed and get attention when just saying 'hi, how are ya' doesn't work?"

"He's got a point, we usually go bigger and bigger and bigger." Dot said, demonstrating with a visual pun with her growing in size each time she said "Bigger".

"We're bound to be seen eventually, we're just charming like that." Yakko said with a smile at the others.

"Call it a rarity if you want, all our toons get a purpose." Plotz said, a little calmer than last time. The cat simply huffed at that response, wanting to say something but holding back.

"So why not Bendy? He mentioned something about his original creator not being right." Bradley said with crossed arms. "Is that why?"

The cat nods and carried his cane under his arm. "Is that so?" He said with an interested hum. "I don't think I've heard of the name, the copy I have has that part scribbled and blacked out." He added. The Warners thought up a thought bubble back to when they were reading about Bendy in the cat's house. Sure enough, there was a crossed out part that likely held the creator's name while they were reading, the thought bubble disappearing soon after.

The CEO huffed. "For good reason. We don't talk about that, but the short story is yes." He said plainly. "That's all you need to know, trust me."

"Not exactly an award-winning story." Yakko said quietly to the human.

"But that still leaves the matter of bringing your other friend in while Toontown was locked down." Plotz said. "At this point, I'm not surprised you four would even consider it. But what was the point?"

Bradley was about to say something, then Wakko jumped in. "Cause they like each other!" He said happily, with his goofy smile and tongue out like usual.

Bradley rolled his eyes and chuckled, gently pushing him to the side. "As a friend, promise." He added. "I wanted to let her see what this place was like and all. And she defended me from those mad humans during that lockdown. After the first visit with giving her a tour around while looking for clues, I thought it'd be best, that's all."

"Hm." Plotz mumbled out as he walked to the window, seeing the rest of the humans along with the toon feline by the van. "Quite the growing group of friends you're getting. From that cat to your other human friends, along with who knows what on the human side."

"Yeah, I really wouldn't get this stuff done without them. It makes things easier with each new one, and it feels special too when I see them happy." Bradley said as he goes back to the three Warners, ruffling their heads.

"Ahp, mind the flower." Dot warned when the human got to her, definitely minding it.

"I couldn't agree more." The cat said with a smile of approval. "I can't imagine how this would've gone if I... Wasn't still around." He said, remembering how close he was to getting dipped last time.

Plotz meanwhile just shook his head. Seemed like this investigation had hit a standstill, but with the toons freed and Bendy gone, it might as well be closed. "Well I suppose that congratulations are still in order regardless." He said as he walked to the group. "Now that all of our toons are back in Toontown, those suits finally gone and that ink thing disappeared, we'll open up Toontown again to the humans. I just hope they understand when we tell them what really happened."

The Warners and Bradley cheered, giving each other high-fives as the human coughed and cleared his throat when his voice broke again mid-cheer. "Gah, dumb puberty." He said with a little laugh.

"I've got my eye on you about bringing new people in though." Plotz said as a warning.

"How many times did we tell you not to worry? We got six to keep on him!" Yakko said, all three coming in close and staring at the human teen.

"And that's what worries me the most." Plotz responded with a grumble.

"Pfft, right." Bradley said with a smirk as well. "It's fine, I'm just glad things turned out fine."

"You better, who knows what would've happened if this continued." The CEO said. "Now go on, I've got a lot of work to do." He added with a huff, pushing the four of them out and shutting the door.

"Well that went pretty well." Dot said with a smile.

"I wanted a treat though, that was a lot of work..." Wakko said with a little frown instead, rubbing his belly.

Soon they went back outside to meet the remaining of the waiting bunch. "So was he mad?" Shannon asked worriedly.

"Well as mad as a grumpy and old CEO is usually." Bradley responded to help reassure her.

"Yup, he only got to magenta on our 'Plotz Angry Scale'." Yakko said as he brought out a chart with several different colored bars, from normal to deep, seething red and all the shades in between.

"Indeed. Now that the loose ends are tightened, our work is finally finished." The feline said.

"I think so, we just gotta wait for Toontown to open those tunnels back up again for everyone." Bradley said as he looked in the direction of the original tunnel they entered through. "I don't wanna keep being the one to smuggle people in here." He added with crossed arms.

"Well let's hope not, you've done enough." Mom said as she rested her hand on his shoulder. "You've been through a lot in this time, haven't you?"

"No kidding." Bradley said with a smile at her, then the other, especially Shannon. "I hope I didn't worry or scare you too much."

"Oh it's fine. You were doing this stuff since 5th grade, I figured you knew what you were doing." Shannon said with a laugh.

"Most of it anyway." Bradley responded with a smile back.

"Aww, they're blooming!" Wakko said with a bright smile.

"Easy now Wakko." The feline said when Bradley looked over to them, rolling his eyes before looking back to his friend.

"So you don't mind staying friends with me then? Even with all this stuff that happened if you're not upset?" The teen boy said, a little worried she'd be rid of him after all that insanity.

"It was a bit scary, but not upsetting. I think we'll stay being good friends." Shannon said with a bright smile, holding out her hand.

Bradley reached as well and shook hands together. "Thanks. And who knows, maybe I'll take ya on more stuff like this."

Shannon crossed her arms. "Don't count on it." She said with a smirk. "At least not yet." Bradley understood with a light laugh, their adventure had been pretty hectic.

"Well, if everything's all done, I'll head back to my house. This was very entertaining until the end." The cat said with a smile, pulling out his toon hole and plopping it on the ground. "Come by more often Bradley, I enjoy our visits." He added before jumping in, heading back to his house.

"And I've got to get back home too. I've kept this a secret from my dad for too long, I stay any longer and he'll flip." Shannon said.

"I'll take you back then." Mom said as she got into the driver's seat. "Umm, can you turn my van back to normal too?" She asked the Warners.

"What's the magic woooooord?" Dot said in response.

"Is it please?" Mom said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well if you have to ask..." Yakko said, almost teasing her.

Bradley just snickered. "Oh you guys. And girl." He said, making sure to add the last part to appease Dot. Yakko brought out the remote and clicked the button on it, turning the tooned-up van back to normal.

"Thanks, I don't wanna be the talk of Burbank with that thing." Mom said as she closed the door, with Shannon climbing in shortly after.

"So I'll see you at school later?" Shannon called out as the van started.

"Yeah, definitely!" Bradley said with a happy voice, waving as the van soon pulled out and left towards the Toontown tunnel, with both humans waving good-bye to them.

 _At the Water Tower, 8 PM_

Bradley watches the sun as he sat down at the railing outside the tower. The sun, now happy again, went down gradually as it said its good-nights to all the toons in Toontown. The human however, felt more unsure than ever. It seemed like the Warners knew it too, like they knew most things as they quietly bunched up right behind him, waiting for him to turn around. One tap on the shoulder made him do just that, as well as jump a bit in surprise when he saw them all so close. "What's up?" Bradley said with a laugh.

"You gonna be okay?" Wakko asked worriedly.

Bradley knew what he was talking about and hesitated. "I really don't know. Honestly, I'm not sure if Bendy's even still around after what happened." He said as he watched the sunset. "A part of me kinda wants to go look for him."

"Well what part do you have to spare?" Dot asked, looking around him to check.

"You can borrow ours if you want!" Yakko offered. "I got an ear that'll go looking for ya!" He added as he popped off one of them with a "click".

"I got me a spare foot!" Wakko said as he dug under his hat to get said foot, with a label on it saying "F#4272744".

"One of millions?" Bradley said with a smirk.

"Oh you have no idea how hectic a toon life is." Yakko said with a smile back. "We gotta have spare parts for everything. Arms, ears, nose hairs..."

"True." Bradley said with a shrug after some thought as he rested his arms on the railing after. "But nah, if he said he knew what he was doing, he has to live with it. I just wondered if he knew what he was getting into, he didn't want me to pull him back up." He added as he rested his head on his arms. "I just hope he'll be okay."

"Oh I'm sure he'll be fine, he was just looking for his friends!" Wakko said happily.

"You think so?" Bradley responded.

"Not really, I just thought that's what you say when you want to sound encouraging." Dot chimed in.

Bradley rolled his eyes with a smile. "Well I appreciate it at least." He said as they all looked at the sunset. "But hey, we still saved the town, made some new friends, kept that human and toon bond alive... I say this was pretty good. Who knows, maybe one day you'll be heroes too, at least in your own way."

"We could, but we already give out loads of autographs." Yakko said. "And since we cause a wreck of the city whenever we're out and about... Hey, maybe we are heroes after all."

Bradley couldn't help but snicker. "Too true." He said with a smile, sighing a little. "Either way, I'm glad things are back to normal. Nothing left to do but watch the sun set. And of course have the sun watch us back."

The Warners nodded in agreement and sat down around him, smiling with him as the toony sun gave a last wave before disappearing completely under the horizon. Toontown soon lit up shortly thereafter, the lights flashing around as the sky reddened and soon darkened. The Warners soon yawned and got up to walk back into the tower, and Bradley soon followed but stopped at the door. He turned around to look at the town, Bendy still on his mind.

"I hope you knew what you were doing, Bendy..." Bradley said to himself. "But I hope you find your friends. We'll all look forward to seeing you together again." He added with a smile on his face, feeling confident the inky devil-toon will do just that. With that, he walked inside and shut the tower door, knowing that tomorrow the town will be as full and fun as it was before with toons old and new.

* * *

 _Epilogue_

So with Bendy supposedly beaten(according to the other toons and what they were told) and the suits having vanished into nothing but pure ink, Toontown was finally safe again. They were all given the full story with support from Bradley and his friends, human and toon, and they've apologized to the humans for assuming they've had anything to do with it. Any longer and they've probably would've stopped their cartoons airing in the real world as well, at least according to what Plotz told the others later, and that would've likely pushed things over the edge and made things irreparable.

Shannon remained Bradley's friend at school, always hanging out with him despite the Warners' teasing about them liking each other. Thankfully things haven't escalated too far yet, like pressuring them to kiss or anything like that. Afterwards, the other students at his school seemed to back off their attempted bullying of Bradley as well, even thanking him.

The rest of the town soon went back to being the zany and crazy place it always was once all the tension slowly ebbed away, with Rick and Stan even getting some props for their help too. They were even offered some side jobs for the summer to learn about the town itself. Rick was interested, but of course Stan needed some time to think about it. He was used to toons, but not THAT used to them.

However, that thought about where and maybe when Bendy ended up hadn't left Bradley's head for a long while, even after the others put it out of their minds. After a while of convincing from the Warners and his friends, he figured that maybe he really was okay. Maybe he really will find his friends again or be respected like other toons are. Only time will tell, depending on when and where Bendy took himself into.

 _In an unknown location_

While that was going on however, something was stirring in a different abandoned studio. In a different room, while someone else was running around in the area exploring to try and repair an ink machine, it stirred and clicked once a switch was flipped. The last thing seen in the room was a pair of familiar devil horns popping up from the metal barrel full of ink.

He had arrived at last, he was home. But unfortunately, even though his plan had worked, he would never be the same.

 _ **END**_

* * *

 _Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, blame life again. But yes, the story is finally over!_

 _I thought it was an interestingly different direction compared to the last ADGZ story, though I'm not sure I'd want to do it again, at least not right away. I think next time I'll go back to making future Animaniacs stories more like the fun show they're based off of opposed to this, should the inspiration rise up again. I think some time to recover from burnout would be best at this point._

 _But either way, I hope you liked this change-up!_ _And happy 25th anniversary to Animaniacs as well!_


End file.
